Las Vegas 2022

Tomorrow I'm heading to Vegas for 5 nights. 1 resort I've never stayed at before (Cromwell) and 1 will be a place I've been before (4 Queens). Plans are a bit TBD. This will be my first trip during the WSOP. I'll go see what it looks like, at a minimum. There are a few ~$200 poker tournaments at different properties. If I win enough at one of those, I'll try to parlay it at the $1500 O8 WSOP. Other potential plans--go to Ka, go back to the Wynn for the first time in like 15 years, go to several buffets. I have a LVA coupon book so will be using that, plus some MyVegas match play. Gambling will be a mix of VP, craps, poker, tiles and some BJ. I'll update this thread with periodic entries.

If you like and care about sleep, DO NOT get the top floors at Cromwell. The Drais night club will be blasting music until early morning.

Is the Cromwell actually a resort? Great location though.

Is the Cromwell actually a resort? Great location though.

I wouldn’t call it a resort. It’s a boutique hotel with limited amenities.

Quote: TinMan

plus some MyVegas match play.

Just double-check the fineprint, the myVegas ones I have seen usually require a certain # of PAID nights at that property.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Quote: TinMan

plus some MyVegas match play.

Just double-check the fineprint, the myVegas ones I have seen usually require a certain # of PAID nights at that property.
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Really? Used to be any nights, including comps and even MyVegas nights counted.

That’s a sucky change.

I’ll check, but I’ve been able to use ParkMGM match play without staying on property. $15 and $25. Did it in December but possible it has changed. Also got a 2 for 1 at the Mirage sandwich place.

Ooops, I double-checked myVegas and it looks like the MATCH PLAYS do not require a minimum stay.

BUT the FREE PLAYS do, at least as far as I can tell.

Tin man, I am very much looking forward to your trip reports. They are always a fun read, and enjoyable and obviously very real.

Welcome back kewlj

Day 1

Flight in was uneventful. Got in just before 9. Uber to Cromwell was fast. $19 but I had a $5 credit for some reason so $14. Checked in at Cromwell. Very fast. I hate waiting a long time to checkin. Probably because so few rooms and it’s Monday no real line. Room itself is nice. Advertised as strip view but that’s a bit misleading. I can see part of flamingo and a whole lot of concrete. To date, the nicest hotel I’ve had in Vegas was Paris. I’d say this is definitely below Paris and just below Mirage. Still very nice.

Walked over to Harrahs. I was about to sit at tiles but it was $50. If table was empty I would have asked for $25 but there were two people there. Walked back to Cromwell. Sad to see triple zero roulette at the place that a few years ago had single zero. Craps was $25 and $15. I bought in for $400 at $15 table. $15 pass and $30 odds. Table was up and down. But mostly down. Guy next to me was all dad jokes all the time. Every craps cliche possible. Khakis to complete the look. He was generally fine but then a woman I think was a hooker started chatting him up. She bought in for $20 and didn’t make a bet. He probably had $800 in front of him. I cashed out before i could see how it turned out. He was chatting her up too but he was also chatty generally. One woman (not the possible hooker) was Rocketing the dice. I’ve never seen dice thrown so hard. They went off once and dealer asked her to go a bit easier. Table was not going well. I cashed out for $150.

Down $250 so far. First full day tomorrow

Day 2A

Woke up at about 7. Walked over to Caesar’s. Easier walk than I remembered. Found the $5 96 JOB In high limit. Wanted to take a shot. Dropped $200 in about 5 mins. One flush and a few 2 pairs but nothing better. Oh well. Took a shot.

Walked to park mgm. Used the match plays. Won both. $80 profit there. Table grumbled a bit when I got up but I’m not going to play a 6/5 game without matchplay/freeplay/etc.

Walked to Excalibur for the buffet. For about $30 on the strip it was good. I anticipate MSS will be better for like $20. Saw a kid of about 24 accidentally drop a mound of bacon off his plate onto the floor. He looked embarrassed and picked it up. I assumed he would just put that plate to the side but he kept adding food to it so seems like he ate the mound of floor bacon. Gross. Brisket and ham were both dry. I ate a few pieces of the fried chicken. There was an artichoke salad that was delicious. I had two servings of that.

Total so far: down $370 or so.

Day 2A

Woke up at about 7. Walked over to Caesar’s. Easier walk than I remembered. Found the $5 96 JOB In high limit. Wanted to take a shot. Dropped $200 in about 5 mins. One flush and a few 2 pairs but nothing better. Oh well. Took a shot.

Walked to park mgm. Used the match plays. Won both. $80 profit there. Table grumbled a bit when I got up but I’m not going to play a 6/5 game without matchplay/freeplay/etc.

Walked to Excalibur for the buffet. For about $30 on the strip it was good. I anticipate MSS will be better for like $20. Saw a kid of about 24 accidentally drop a mound of bacon off his plate onto the floor. He looked embarrassed and picked it up. I assumed he would just put that plate to the side but he kept adding food to it so seems like he ate the mound of floor bacon. Gross. Brisket and ham were both dry. I ate a few pieces of the fried chicken. There was an artichoke salad that was delicious. I had two servings of that.

Total so far: down $370 or so.

Day 2B

Uber to Ellis Island. Played some craps. Bought in for $300. $5 PL and $25-$30 odds. Did not go well. Lost $255. Used some LVA coupons but lost $15 in that process. Walked to Ballys. Looked in at the WSOP. Casino employees event going on. I’d never seen WSOP before so was fun to see the space (new for everyone this year at Ballys/Paris). Walked to Harrahs. Tiles closed so played $5 I love suits. Won $55.

Total: $585 Down

Quote: TinMan

Day 2B
…. Walked to Harrahs. Tiles closed so played $5 I love suits. Won $55.
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I love suits?

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Quote: TinMan

Day 2B
…. Walked to Harrahs. Tiles closed so played $5 I love suits. Won $55.
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I love suits?
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It’s apparently the same game as High Card Flush. WOO has a page on it. For $5, it’s pretty fun.

Ellis Island craps is really value. Dont forget to try their NY steak $ eggs special.$9.99 from 11pm to 11am. You should be able to get a comp or even for 2 people. Good luck.

Rest of Day 2

Well, the rest of day 2 didn’t go well. Walked to the Linq. In the O’Sheas area they had $10 craps. I played $10 PL and $30 odds. Lost $300. Only story worth telling—there was a guy in his late 40s/early 50s with a woman who looked to be 22-23. They played together for a while and then left. As soon as they were out of earshot, Pit says “what do you think—daughter? Girlfriend?” I think it was likely his daughter but could be wrong.

Linq had more $5 I love suits. This time it didn’t go as well. Lost $55. Dealer was a bit uncertain about the game. Had to ask the pit if her 3/4/5 beat my k/10/8. She was thinking it might be like 3CP. After that did a lot of walking, mostly around Paris and Bellagio.

Ended up back at Cromwell. Found a $5 3CP. I won $50. Dealer was friendly but honestly too talkative. It wasn’t a talkative table and the dealer kept trying to prod people in awkward ways. She kept asking me what I was doing in Vegas—I said vacation and she was confused by that answer for some reason. It was weird. Her persona was very friendly but oddly confused but straightforward things.

Went up to the room to relax. Then walked back to Harrahs. Tiles table open. I played $25 for 3.5 hours. It was fun but couldn’t get the table to myself. Lost $350 during that time. Lots of pushes but overall a slow drip loss. Oh well.

Trip Total: I think about $1250 loss. Rough day.

TinMan,

Great report so far. Do you set a gambling budget for each day? If so, do you set aside any winnings for the day, and stick to the budget the next day? Also, you should really ask for comps at Ellis Island. They're really generous. The pitbosses determine the amount, and if you strike a friendly conversation with nice pitboss, he may give you a bit more.

Also, do you drink (alcohol) at all? If so, Ellis Island sometimes let you take a beer growler back to the hotel if that's what you want instead of food comps.

Deleted due to duplicate

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

TinMan,

Great report so far. Do you set a gambling budget for each day? If so, do you set aside any winnings for the day, and stick to the budget the next day? Also, you should really ask for comps at Ellis Island. They're really generous. The pitbosses determine the amount, and if you strike a friendly conversation with nice pitboss, he may give you a bit more.

Also, do you drink (alcohol) at all? If so, Ellis Island sometimes let you take a beer growler back to the hotel if that's what you want instead of food comps.
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I don’t set a budget per day but more per trip. If I have a bad day, I’ll cut back the next day or gamble at things with lower downside. For example, I’m planning to play a few low limit poker tournaments. If those go well, great. If not, I’ll be out under $200 for (hopefully) several hours of play.

It also helps that New York legalized spots betting In January. I did a reasonably good job at maximizing sign up bonuses. I left some money on the table but still cleared about $8k thorough the promos. I know it’s not really the same but I think of that as a gambling win so if I have a loss on this trip it’s not as painful as it would be otherwise.

Oh—and yes, I drink. I keep track of drink tips and I had 7 yesterday (6 alcoholic).

Day 3

It was a much more low key day. Walked to Ocean One in Miracle Mile shops. I wanted to try their lunch special but it was 9am and they only do breakfast then. Ordered eggs and sausage. Really generous portion of eggs. Sausage was a bit dry but ok. $6. Nice looking restaurant. 9/10.

Walked to Bellagio. Sat for 1/3 hold ‘em. One guy at the table was very talkative and showed down several bluffs. On the key hand, I raise to $15 with AJ over a $6 straddle. I should have raised more, I know. 3 people call, including the talkative guy and the straddle. Flop is J, 9, 7. I bet $30, one call and talkative guy raises to $90. One fold. I saw him do something similar with a flush draw so I go all in for $160. I won’t go through all the details but he had 8/10 and I lost.

By this point it was 12:30 so I walked back to Ocean One. Got the mahi tacos (very good), salmon salad (great) and a pina colada (excellent). $13 for a great lunch. 9/10.

Walked around a bit and then Uber to Orleans. I should have called first. There’s a Wednesday O8/stud8 on their regular daily schedule. But they’re doing a special series in the summer. Regular daily schedule is replaced. There was a hold ‘em tournament—at first I was considering playing but it would be 2 hours til the start. I walked to the pit and saw PGP. I figured I’d kill some time. The sign indicated regular PGP. Every table I’ve seen otherwise has been face up so I sat down. I prefer regular PGP. I sit down and it’s face up. The sign was wrong. The felt was face up and no quarters on the table. Oh well. Bought in for $100 at $20 table. Some pushes but didn’t win a hand. Lost the $100 and didn’t want to stay for the hold ‘em tournament. Uber back to Cromwell.

Walked to flamingo and got on a $15 craps table. Wanted to do something different so just placed the 8 for $18. Ultimately lost $50 after about 90 mins. Funny moment: father and son playing. I forget what the exact prompt was, but father said “Oh, I own him” about son. Dealer immediately says “you don’t own him but you paid for him.” In typing this out it sounds a bit sinister but it was funny.

Walked to Harrahs and sat for tiles. 2.5 hours. Was down $125 at my lowest and up $100 at my highest. Wanted to book a win so walked $60 up.

Day total: down $280
Trip total: down $1500 or so

Nice report so far !

Quote: TinMan

By this point it was 12:30 so I walked back to Ocean One.

I like going over to Ocean One as well for a sit-down meal on the cheap.

If you haven't tried BATISTA's HOLE in the WALL, I recommend that for dinner ( Italian Food ). It is just north of the side entrance of Bally's. Call ahead for a reservation.

Question for the math people: I see a PGP progressive at $521,000. I found a forum thread from 2010 saying the bet is plus EV at $243,000. I assume that’s without accounting for the base bet itself. That is, you’ll lose about 2% on the base bet. Assuming a $25 min, is $521,000 enough to make the overall bet positive EV? That is, $25 base bet plus $1 progressive.

Quote: TinMan

Question for the math people: I see a PGP progressive at $521,000. I found a forum thread from 2010 saying the bet is plus EV at $243,000. I assume that’s without accounting for the base bet itself. That is, you’ll lose about 2% on the base bet. Assuming a $25 min, is $521,000 enough to make the overall bet positive EV? That is, $25 base bet plus $1 progressive.
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In order to cover a 2% house edge on the $25 base bet, your $1 side bet must cover an expected loss of $0.50 (2% of $25). That means you need the progressive to be high enough to yield a 150% return (($1 + $0.50)/$1). According to the Pai Gow Poker page on WoO, version 2 of the Fortune Progressive yields a 2.2% increase to the edge [EDIT: not edge, but return] for every $10K on the meter. If it is 100% at just over $243K, then another $227K ($10K * 50%/2.2%) is needed to break even on both bets. Assuming a house edge of 2% on the base game puts a $470-471K meter at break even for your $26 in action.

If you use a more conservative house edge for the base game, such as 2.5%, then add $284K (instead of $227K) to require $527-528K…

Quote: camapl

Quote: TinMan

Question for the math people: I see a PGP progressive at $521,000. I found a forum thread from 2010 saying the bet is plus EV at $243,000. I assume that’s without accounting for the base bet itself. That is, you’ll lose about 2% on the base bet. Assuming a $25 min, is $521,000 enough to make the overall bet positive EV? That is, $25 base bet plus $1 progressive.
link to original post

In order to cover a 2% house edge on the $25 base bet, your $1 side bet must cover an expected loss of $0.50 (2% of $25). That means you need the progressive to be high enough to yield a 150% return (($1 + $0.50)/$1). According to the Pai Gow Poker page on WoO, version 2 of the Fortune Progressive yields a 2.2% increase to the edge [EDIT: not edge, but return] for every $10K on the meter. If it is 100% at just over $243K, then another $227K ($10K * 50%/2.2%) is needed to break even on both bets. Assuming a house edge of 2% on the base game puts a $470-471K meter at break even for your $26 in action.

If you use a more conservative house edge for the base game, such as 2.5%, then add $284K (instead of $227K) to require $527-528K…
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Wow, thank you! That’s incredible. The skills of people on this forum never cease to amaze me.

I’ve literally never made a progressive bet like that but I’ll give it a shot.

Day 4A

Checked out of Cromwell and Uber to 4Queens. I was able to check in very early (before 8am). That was nice. As is 2 nights comped. Room is perfectly fine. Facing fremont so i can hear the music but I don’t mind. breakfast at magnolias. Walked to golden nugget and played a $250 O8 tournament. Lasted a little over 4 hours and then busted. Never really got anything going. Starting stack was 15k and my peak was about 17k. I was hovering around the starting stack for 90% of the time.

Walked to golden gate. $25 match play and 2:1 first BJ coupon from LVA. The 2:1 coupon took forever to use. I must have been there 45 mins. The good news is I won $275 in that time. There were two friendly, drunk and clueless guys at the table. One of them kept splitting 10s and 5s. Other guy hit A/A. They would stand 13 v 9 and then hit 14 v 5. It was wild. They were hanging in there somehow but that can’t last. One guy called 15 v 6 “the hardest hand in blackjack”. Another time he split 5s, got another 5 and then hit vs 8. He won both hands and announced “I played that perfectly”.

Walked to the D and was able to use $25 LVA matchplay AND “sayhitomatthew” $25 matchplay. I lost one and won one for an overall $25 profit.

Walked to Cal. Played some craps (lost $100), $1 10/7 DB VP (won $25) and 9/6 JOB (won $20). Cal was pretty busy.

Walked to Binion’s and converted $10 slot freeplay to $7.50. Person at the desk was very friendly.

Back to 4Q. Was dead even on quarter 10/7DB after about an hour. Dinner at magnolias. Salmon was great. Since I had a BOGO I also got the pork chop. It was dry. The soup of the day—potato and bacon—was delicious.

Trip total: I think I’m about even today. The LVA coupons are a bit harder to keep track of but I think close to even today. May go play some more but undecided.

Enjoying the Trip Report.....

Rest of Day 4

I came up to my room after dinner and was on the fence about playing some more. I had had a few drinks during the day and it started to catch up with me. I rested for about 90 mins and decided to head down again. Played 10/7 DB and hit a straight flush and quads. I was up $100 at one point and decided to cash out at up $150 or up $50. Ended up cashing out up $50.

Walked over to craps. $10. One spot open and it was next to an attractive woman so I bought in. Table was choppy and I ultimately lost $70. Nothing too memorable other than the fact that the base dealer kept giving payouts that required the players to drop him change. Eg, instead of paying $14, he’d pay $15 and ask players to drop him $1. Generally that’s fine but some people seemed to be novices/drunk and were confused. Slowed the game down. One woman he kept asking to drop him $15. I didn’t pay attention to what her bet was but it seemed odd that the “change” approach to payouts should require $15. I would think he could just pay her the correct amount. For some people, they get it and it’s automatic—they have the change ready to go. But when it’s a novice and they’re confused every time it seems like more hassle than it’s worth. I’ve seen 4Q craps dealers do that before. Maybe it’s something they’re instructed on as a way to get higher denom chips to players? Like slowly convert everyone’s reds to greens? It’s definitely done more there than elsewhere. I wasn’t feeling like being there so I left down $70.

Back to VP. I really enjoy Double Bonus and 4Q comps it well for a +EV game. I probably earn something like $20-$25/day in comps when I play it for 3-4 hours. Boyd doesn’t give tier credits for even 99.5% games, let alone their 100.17 game. I believe Plaza is the same. Anyway, I haven’t paid for a meal at 4Q since I started playing that game. Anyway, I was hovering about even, down $20 or so and feeling tired. Had 1 four to a Royal that didn’t work out and 1 time where I (correctly) held only AAA on AAA33 but neither of those hit. And then an otherwise unremarkable hand where I held AA and got the other two AA. $200 hit and I cashed out, up $180 or so. That was nice. I did a little bit of walking around on Fremont and then up to bed.

Day total: I think I won about $100 for the day.
Trip total: I realized an earlier post was a bit unclear about day total vs trip total. I’m still down about $1400 overall (after accounting for the $100 win today) but at least the past few days haven’t been the bloodbath the first day was.

The good news is I still have a few LVA coupons to use. My goal for today is to use those up. There’s probably $100 in value remaining to be realized.

I’m loving this daily diary type trip report. I may do it myself on my next trip, which starts in 28 hours. 😁

The craps dealer asking for $1 could be because it was a crowded table and they want to make sure there’s breathing room in the rail.

Asking for $15? All I can figure is a $30 place bet on 5/9 pays $35. Ask for 3 reds, give 2 greens…

Day 5A

Glad to hear people enjoy these trip reports! I tend to do a lot of the same things trip to trip so glad they aren’t too repetitive.

Walked to MSS buffet. I was disappointed. The price was higher than what’s listed on their website (they list $20 and it was $23). I know times have changed but it used to be like $16 for dinner and very good. The food was also disappointing by and large. The omelette was the worst I’ve ever had. The cook cooked it in so much oil it was swimming in it. I’m glad it was on its own plate because the oil went everywhere. I ate some of it and felt gross immediately so I stopped. I normally never leave food at buffets. I don’t want to waste food but I Had to leave like 90% of the omelette uneaten. Country fried steak was good, as was kielbasa. Fried chicken wasn’t very crispy. Pork chop had potential but was over cooked. I never eat buffet pizza but I was looking for something and that was pretty good. Kalua pork and cabbage was good. Desserts were all bought. The soft serve was the best dessert item I had.

Walked to plaza. $25 match play lost. Converted $10 slot play Into $10. They had 96 JOB at the bar. I’d never seen that before.

Walked to downtown grand. The good news is I used $50 match play on craps PL. first roll—11, winner. Up $100. Normally I’d walk but it was a $5 table and those are rare so I stayed. I should have walked. I ended up losing the $100 back plus another $160 out of pocket. All while betting $5 PL and $20-$30 odds. Worst part was the other table was going great. A guy kept yelling “you can’t lose at this game! It’s an ATM!” Yelled that 3 times at least. That was rubbing salt in the wound as me and one other guy kept 7 ing out at our table.

My last reasonable coupon is $10-$100 slot play at El Cortez. I’ll use that later today or tomorrow.

Back to 4Q for VP. I was up $50 at one point and then slowly dropped to a $100 loss. Almost hit a Royal on a hand where I held nothing.

Trip total: I think I’m down $1650 or so.

Day 5B

Wow, this was a weird afternoon.

I walked over to el Cortez. Converted $10 slot freeplay from LVA into $10 real cash. Saw their $10 Bacc table. I like Bacc sometimes so I sat down. Bet only banker for one shoe. Won $60. I was up $100 at one point but last four hands were all player.

I saw it was 4:40. knew plaza had a 5pm bingo game and I had a $25 matchplay. So I hustled over. Bought in for $40. There must have been no more than 15 people in the room. I’ve played bingo at plaza maybe 10 sessions and never won anything. I was down maybe $400 lifetime for bingo. I got my two drinks and sat down. First few games I had a sweat twice but no luck. The payouts for the winners were between $60 and $100 or so. Nothing too crazy. Then one game was a cover-all. First time in my life I got it. Called our bingo! Dealer verified and paid me $750!! I have no idea why that game paid so much more. I tipped $10. No idea If that was a lot or a little. The next game was a “second chance”. As the guy was walking away, I hit that as well. Had to split with someone else, but we each got $63. It was wild. So total of about $800 after buying in for $40. Wow.

I bought some snacks at the store next to the bingo hall. I like that place. Feels like a family business so I always try to get something.

Walked down and was halfway out the door when I thought “it’s Friday. Let’s see if the single zero roulette is open”. I walked back and it was open. $15 min. I never play roulette but single zero is as good as it gets in Vegas (technically AC has a better game in high limit but I’ve never played that either). Anyway, decided to take a shot for $100. I got nickels and bet the numbers my father likes: 11, 14, 17. I figured it’s an expected loss of $2.70 and could be fun. Anyway, I never hit anything and lost the $100. But it was a fun diversion for a bit.

Trip total: I think I’m down about $1000 at this point. I gotta say, I’m ok with that. I got all 5 hotel nights comped and some meals comped so $1000 down isn’t bad. Still 36 hours left to go so things could change.

I don’t see a page for this on WOO. I know Mike says if he has the rack card he can do the analysis. Maybe he can analyze this? I saw it at Binions. Empty table. No idea If this is better or worse than regular face up pai gow?

Quote: TinMan

Day 5B

Called our bingo! Dealer verified and paid me $750!! I have no idea why that game paid so much more. I tipped $10. No idea If that was a lot or a little. The next game was a “second chance”. As the guy was walking away, I hit that as well. Had to split with someone else, but we each got $63. It was wild. So total of about $800 after buying in for $40. Wow.

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Good Hit. Bingo is my guilty pleasure. I take my in-laws all the time, but I think I secretly enjoy it more than they do.

When you were at Downtown Grand, did you happen to see a $1 blackjack table? Also at the $5 craps table, was it 3X,4X, 5X odds?

Thanks again for the report.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I’m loving this daily diary type trip report. I may do it myself on my next trip, which starts in 28 hours. 😁

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Yes please. That would be fantastic.

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

Quote: TinMan

Day 5B

Called our bingo! Dealer verified and paid me $750!! I have no idea why that game paid so much more. I tipped $10. No idea If that was a lot or a little. The next game was a “second chance”. As the guy was walking away, I hit that as well. Had to split with someone else, but we each got $63. It was wild. So total of about $800 after buying in for $40. Wow.

link to original post

Good Hit. Bingo is my guilty pleasure. I take my in-laws all the time, but I think I secretly enjoy it more than they do.

When you were at Downtown Grand, did you happen to see a $1 blackjack table? Also at the $5 craps table, was it 3X,4X, 5X odds?

Thanks again for the report.
link to original post

I didn’t look for the $1 BJ but I do recall seeing a sign for it. I assume there’s some sort of catch, like an ante or even money BJ

The craps sign at DG didn’t list max odds. I asked the dealer and he said 10x. There was a guy who looked to be betting more on odds. From my eye, looked like $10 PL and like $200 odds but I could have been mistaken.

Rest of Day 5

Saw an empty $10 craps table at 4Q. Played for awhile and the table was going Ok. I was conservative with odds after getting burned all week. I rolled the dice and I’m sure I hit 5 points and possibly 6. One point I didn’t have any odds, most of the points I had $20 and one point I put out the full $50 (5x). After I rolled there was another 7 out and I colored up. Despite the conservative odds, I won $200.

I walked around a bit and saw the new PGP game at Binions (the one I posted the rack card for). Didn’t play but If the odds are similar to regular PGP I’d play in the future. It was only $10 table.

Back to 4 Queens for dinner. BOGO coupon and got open faced turkey and turkey club. Probably too much turkey but they were good dishes. The club had relatively little turkey in it though. Comp picked up the balance after the BOGO coupon applied.

Back to VP. For the first time there were two guys playing the double bonus so I had to squeeze in to get a seat. I hate being crowded but I wanted to play. Eventually one guy gets up and I take his seat so I had some more room. I started out dropping $100 before rallying. 3 FOAK and I got the $100 back plus $60. I was feeling sleeping and the casino felt hot and smoky so I cashed out and came up to the room.

It was a good day for gambling. Today I fly back on an evening flight so I have a lot of time left.

Trip total: I think I’m down about $750 overall.

Quote: TinMan

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Any chance the back of the card lists other information, like the various payout odds?

AGS doesn't even list this on their website anymore.

Great trip report. Not bringing my laptop, but will be there Sunday Wednesday this week. Will attempt the same for the first time (trip report, not Vegas).

Great trip report. Not bringing my laptop, but will be there Sunday Wednesday this week. Will attempt the same for the first time (trip report, not Vegas).

Final Day

Walked to Donut Bar and got coffee and two donuts. Sat in the backyard. I like that place a lot.

I was going to just walk back but the EL Cortez is right there. I saw single deck BJ for $10 (used to be $5). Sat down. They used automatic shuffler in an awkward location. Dealer was flashing bottom cars every single time. Easy as day to see. I’ve never attempted anything like this before but it was easy to cut a card in or out of the deck. I cut out 23456; random cut for 78 and cut in 910A. That has to cut down the house edge materially, especially when I cut out small cards. Anyway, didn’t do me any good. Lost $100 but it was fun. I’m surprised they didn’t have better game security for a place I’ve heard is sweaty.

Back to 4Q. Won $75 back at VP. Checked out of hotel room.

Walked to golden nugget for poker. At one point up $70. Then dwindled down a bit. Key hand had JJ. Raise to $15. Straddle and 1 other call. 9102. Bet $15. One call. Turn 4. Bet $30 and he goes all in. I have $125 and pot was $130 before his all in. So basically getting 2:1. I really suspected he had a junky 2 pair. Should have folded but called anyway. He had 94 and River no help. Should have folded. Felt foolish.

Back to magnolias for lunch. Burger. It was good.

Back to VP. The good news is I earned so much in Sklansky dollars. 3 times four to a RF. 4 AAA draws. Several times held 2 and ended up with 4 to a Royal. Many other big draws but didn’t hit. Spent several hours there and lost $180. Good news is I got like $50 in freeplay due to a promotion. Plus $40 cash in comps.

Heading to airport. Will submit some additional thoughts later. Overall, I think I lost about $1100. Maybe slightly more less. I’m ok with that.

Thanks for the TR I really enjoyed it.

Final Thoughts and Random Stories I Forgot to Mention

Total Drinks: 24
Total Meal Comps Received: $46

Some of the casinos had a much stronger smell that I remembered (the piped in smell, not like smoke/dirty smell). I remembered Plaza had a strong smell, but some other places did as well. I think it's too much. I don't like it.

If I was a casino exec, I'd put in Quadruple 0 roulette immediately. The 000 tables were often packed. People couldn't wait to shovel their money away.

Played BJ for a bit with a father, his 21-year old son and son's friend. Handheld double deck game at Fremont. The kids were too shy to ask questions, so one time one of them stayed on an 8 (he didn't know how to ask for a card) and another time the other kid stayed on an 11 (he was worried about busting). It was a $10 game so they didn't lose too much, but still--would have been better for them to be at a face up game to help reduce some of the more egregious mistakes. People were cool about it. I feel like in Atlantic City someone at the table would have erupted.

Regular Pai Gow seems to be gone. I didn't see it anywhere. It was all face up. I don't really like face up pai gow poker. I think it's less fun. I also think that it takes longer--people stare at their hands more and try to figure out the right way to play a hand, since at times you do have to do things that are unothodox--eg. at one point, my hand was something like AAQ7542. Normally I'd play Q7 in the low hand, but dealer had something like Flush/K3, so I had to split the AA. That is a positive result for the player, but overall I was more worried about making a silly mistake.

El Cortez put in a stadium gaming section. It was shoehorned in. It's in an awkward place near the table games and it disrupted the flow of foot traffic. I had to detour around because it was too hard to walk through, even when no one was playing. All of the seats were on top of each other and surrounded by slots in haphazard places.

It's a bummer that MSS removed their 100.17% DB VP games. I think the $2 scratch cards for 4OAK are gone too. I really enjoyed playing DB there pre-COVID. Just a really comfortable place to play VP for a few hours.

Thanks for the report, TM! I actually went back and read some of your prior threads, and enjoyed those as well!

Given how you feel about Face Up vs. PGP, I was surprised to see your interest in the Dealer Open(?) version for which you posted an info card. (Was that this thread or the one from last year?) It’s similar to Face Up, but you lose on dealer’s 2 or more Jacks instead of pushing on A-high Pai Gow. I suppose someone wouldn’t know for sure till they tried it… Or maybe, like me, you’re curious to see if the HE is lower than on Face Up?

Quote: camapl

Thanks for the report, TM! I actually went back and read some of your prior threads, and enjoyed those as well!

Given how you feel about Face Up vs. PGP, I was surprised to see your interest in the Dealer Open(?) version for which you posted an info card. (Was that this thread or the one from last year?) It’s similar to Face Up, but you lose on dealer’s 2 or more Jacks instead of pushing on A-high Pai Gow. I suppose someone wouldn’t know for sure till they tried it… Or maybe, like me, you’re curious to see if the HE is lower than on Face Up?
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Thank you!

That's a fair question. Honestly, it initially got my attention because it was a $10 table and I never see PGP for $10. I was looking for a place to kill some time for low stakes and that seemed perfect. Most other PGP downtown had $25 mins. There's probably $15 somewhere downtown, but I didn't remember seeing it, so $10 seemed really low. The dealer mentioned the novel JJ mechanism. I assumed the HE would be similar to other variants and wanted to confirm on WOO, but for the first time with a table game I didn't find a WOO page for it.

The extent of my calculations on Dealer Open Pai Gow are some probabilities…

Dealer has
Pair Jacks 7.4225%
Trip Jacks 0.5498%
Quad Jacks 0.0120%

2+ Jacks 7.9843%

As you can see, the vast majority of “special” hands are the marginal Pair of Jacks hands. I’d be interested to know how all of these would break down normally, as each of these become losers in this variant.

Perhaps Wizard can put this on his to do list…