JOB vs Super Aces @ Downtown Grand

I'm planning a trip to Vegas and am thinking of getting off strip to stay downtown. I nice pool and good BJ rules / limits are a must so the Downtown Grand came into sharp relief. GN only meets 1 requirement.

My question is since the Downtown Grand offers full pay Super Aces and as best I can tell freeplay on it, is it worth learning the rules in advance of the trip assuming we decide to stay there. vpfree lists the variance at .63, which seems insane (http://www.vpfree2.com/video-poker/pay-table/super-aces). I can play JoB basic strategy pretty reliably without a cheat sheet, but SA would be a whole other thing. I'm sure I can learn the strategy, but if the variance is really that high the RoR on a small bankroll of less than 2k seems high over the course of just few hours..

Slightly related, anyone stay at and have opinions on the downtown grand?

I have a 99.84 super aces game on a Bally's game maker near me. I don't care for the variance or the cabinet.

If I'm just playing to play, I prefer games that do not short 2 pair.

Quote: razmaspaz

I'm planning a trip to Vegas and am thinking of getting off strip to stay downtown. I nice pool and good BJ rules / limits are a must so the Downtown Grand came into sharp relief. GN only meets 1 requirement.

My question is since the Downtown Grand offers full pay Super Aces and as best I can tell freeplay on it, is it worth learning the rules in advance of the trip assuming we decide to stay there. vpfree lists the variance at .63, which seems insane (http://www.vpfree2.com/video-poker/pay-table/super-aces). I can play JoB basic strategy pretty reliably without a cheat sheet, but SA would be a whole other thing. I'm sure I can learn the strategy, but if the variance is really that high the RoR on a small bankroll of less than 2k seems high over the course of just few hours..

Slightly related, anyone stay at and have opinions on the downtown grand?

There's nothing to learn with Super Aces but why bother if you only know JoB basic "pretty reliably". 9-6 JoB is the easiest game to learn perfectly. Do that, before you learn anything else. And try Four Queens. I don't think you can beat Four Queens, and you're right there within walking distance of everything.

Quote: prozema

I have a 99.84 super aces game on a Bally's game maker near me. I don't care for the variance or the cabinet.

If I'm just playing to play, I prefer games that do not short 2 pair.

This took me a minute to figure out because "full pay" is 99.93. Yours knocks the SF down from 300 to 250.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Quote: prozema

I have a 99.84 super aces game on a Bally's game maker near me. I don't care for the variance or the cabinet.

If I'm just playing to play, I prefer games that do not short 2 pair.

This took me a minute to figure out because "full pay" is 99.93. Yours knocks the SF down from 300 to 250.

I think Bally's calls it bonus aces or something like that. It's basically super aces.

You are 100% correct on the pay table.
1-1-3-4-5-8-50-80-400-50-800

Back to the original question though... Playing downtown, you have so many games available over 100%. Downtown is crawling with db machines at 100.17... if the high variance and a complex strategy are acceptable, why not grab the other 0.24% by going to another casino downtown? I mean, the downtown grand isn't that cool...

Either SA or DB can chew through a small bankroll pretty quickly. If I was committed to the downtown grand and had a smaller bankroll, I would probably choose the JoB machines and see if I could make up for some of the ev loss with comped cocktails.

NSUD is in the middle of JoB and DB / SA in terms of return and variance... Maybe split the difference and play some deuces for a change? That's how I'm thinking I might kill some time when I'm downtown in March.

Disclaimer: if your goals are different than mine, please ignore my advice I'm typically NOT in a mood to do something hard and with high variance to get a 1% advantage... 5%, maybe... But at 20% in my favor I'm basically just using a simple-ish strategy like JoB (for example) on any non wild game and not worrying about a percent here or there.

I do have a vague memory of the dt grand letting me re-split aces at their blackjack table. That was nice... Lots of cocktails!

Oh... And get a steak at Hugos cellar while you are there.

Ive stayed at the DT Grand a few times. If you go to bed before midnight ask for a room away from Fremont Street. The noise is very noticeable. Also, they have two towers. The one further away from the casino has a better chance of less noise, but is a longer walk to everything.

Quote: GeoducknCrab

Ive stayed at the DT Grand a few times. If you go to bed before midnight ask for a room away from Fremont Street. The noise is very noticeable. Also, they have two towers. The one further away from the casino has a better chance of less noise, but is a longer walk to everything.

I noticed this in reviews. Is the noise worse than the freemont properties? That seems odd. Bad windows? Or are people staying at the DG just not prepared for the spillover and people staying on freemont just expect it?

"Disclaimer: if your goals are different than mine, please ignore my advice " nope, this was great advice.

My goal here would be to throw some business to the place I'm staying, assuming I like it, in order to get future offers. I think there is a really small slice of places that meets the player friendly gambling + resort style amenities. Probably only the Plaza and dg even try to do this, and I am not under the illusion either of them is firing on all cylinders in terms of resort amenities.

Regarding the 4 queens, crossing the street to go to Binion's to use a pool (the binion's pool no less) is not exactly an ideal state, but I may hop over there to try my luck, it just isn't very strategic.

I think I'll stick with JoB and see where that gets me. I'm hopeful a couple hours a night at the tables and some sporadic VP play will be rewarded in terms of future play.

Right on... Get some royals!

We have a good time at the Downtown Grand - we're locals and have been there a few times. My GF likes the 9/6 JoB machines because "they're new and shiny", and yeah, I agree. It's a decent joint, not too smoky, modern w/out being over the top. It's a smaller Casino than some, but it's cool, staking out a spot as a live music / rock club. They've got a rock-themed restaurant with good acts. I actually jammed on-stage with some great musicians one night.

I also like the block it's on. It's right across the street from a row of funky / interesting places. Feels a bit like Memphis. It's right in the middle of everything, so if you'd rather play somewhere else you can.