Tiltpoul's Blog

WoVCon ][- Part 3

You may be curious at this point (if you are still reading it, which if you are, THANK YOU!) what kind of time frame I am on right now. Well, I got back to the hotel a little before 4pm on Friday evening (which is 7pm EST). This means I have now gone about 37 hours without any sleep. So I did what any sensible person would do... I got 2 hours of sleep!

Well, not quite 2 hours. Doc called to set up a time to meet at the Plaza to see The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I also got texts from friends of mine, but I dozed through most of them. I woke up around 5:45pm. I showered, got changed, and drove on over to Downtown to see the show.

The parking deck at the Plaza is a bit tight. The ramp to get up is just barely a car and a half width, and the ceilings are extremely low. I'm not a fan of claustrophobic parking (I try to find spots that are farther away from all the other cars, which drives my parents crazy when I'm driving). After I found a spot, I went downstairs to check out the Plaza. I got a card (apparently they had my info from a couple years ago when I played at the Las Vegas Club) and found a nice Pai Gow Poker table to play at while I waited for Doc and Mrs. Doc. It was mostly back and forth at PGP, except the dealer got a Royal Flush one hand, which I would have gladly taken on my side.

We then went to the show. Our tickets were right at the front of the stage, which is not ideal for me. I like kind of the middle section about 6-8 rows back, but I suppose it could have been worse. I'll type a review of the show on the forum, since there might be others interested. Overall, the production was not worth the price of the tickets, but there were some performances that were worthy of a Broadway production (mainly the two leads).

After this, Nareed met up with us and we went over to Main Street Station. There was some confusion as to where to play, but we found a nice, empty $5 table that almost cried out "WoVCon over here!" We took up one side while we waited for others to find us. Unfortunately, the table min got increased to $10, so we were grandfathered in, while anyone else had to play at the higher mins. Then tupp(?) joined us with another guy who apparently is on the forum, though not an active member. Ironically, he said he subscribes to my blog, which if he does, thank you! Rdw and Timspeed found us eventually, and then the confusion set in as to where we would play the rest of the evening.

We found the next table was at $5, and a whole side opened up. I moved my spinning stool over to the table (I found this stool that was kind of fun to kneel on), and we started up over there. After about 20 minutes, I realized my mind had gone to crazy land, and I should probably get a few more hours of sleep. I bid adieu to the crew and drove back to the Rio. I went up to the room and got 2 hours of sleep...

WoVCon was at noon, so my plan was to go to the Strip to the Tropicana, redeem an old free play offer, go to MGM Grand and play some tiles and head to Riviera to do the $1000 promotion. I got to Tropicana, though the parking situation was a bit weird. Most of the spaces were marked reserved, so I had to park near the employee parking area. I got to the club, where they had a difficult time locating my free play. They finally added the $50 to my account, and I went and played some 7-5 Bonus Poker with a progressive at about 1400. I played through the $50, and had about 40. I decided the game was good enough to warrant a bit more play, especially if they might send me some offers. Unfortunately, the cards went South, and I couldn't capitalize on the offer, but I still had fun, and it didn't cost me a penny.

Next, I walked over to MGM Grand. If you haven't been there in a while, they are doing some major renovating throughout the entire property. It's unclear to me what they are doing; maybe they are putting the Lion's mouth entrance back in! They could just be getting rid of the Lion theme entirely, as they don't have the habitat anymore. Regardless, it took me a bit to get in, but when I did, I headed directly to the Tiles table. I was having a good time, and another gentleman sat down. We were talking it up a bit, but he kept raising his bets at the wrong times. He lost, then two other white guys sat down. The dealer joked that she should take a picture of 3 White guys at a Tiles table.

While I didn't lose track of time, I didn't budget my time well at MGM Grand, so now I had to head downtown without making the stop at the Riviera... Soon it was time for WoVCon.

When I got there, I saw Nareed. Actually, walking into the casino I saw the Wizard going out. I felt like I was seeing a celebrity; it was so cool!!! As mentioned before, the space was a bit small for all of us, so I sat at the table with the Wizard, Nicksgamingstuff, Tupp and Paisello. We did the quiz, I took second and then a bunch of us waited outside for the Wizard and Nareed to head toward ElCo. We waited, and waited... turns out they were already there!

So we walked down, watching people zipline over Downtown, while many others gawked at the Heart Attack Grill. We got to the El Cortez, and went outside to take the picture Doc posted. I went to get a club card (and free slot play), because at the time there weren't enough seats on Single Deck BJ. Finally I got a seat next to rdw who was on first base. I was second, some woman who was at the table (and making side bets galore) was third, fourth was Paisello and last but not least, the Wizard. Not wanting to get banned, I chose to flat bet $10, though I didn't turn in my card. On reflection, security could easily find out who I was, but whatever, I'm not all that worried.

During this time, the Wizard and I started doing trivia, specifically musical theater trivia. He got me on some Hair and Grease questions, while I got him on most of the others. He TRIED to stump me with an Evita question ("What other language is sung in the song "Argentine Melody"?), I told him there was no song titled that in the show. He said it was the opening number, which I replied was called "Requiem for Evita/Oh What a Circus," which is partially sung in Latin. He actually left the table to check (and try to update) wikipedia, but alas he conceded defeat!!! ;-) I say this all jokingly, because I really did enjoy myself. Next time I come to Vegas we are doing the musical theater challenge, and I look forward to it.

After a while, we all parted ways, and I headed back to the Rio. I had to get changed as I was going to meet my friends Tony and Bob for dinner that evening. I met them at some dive bar near where they live, and had a half meal of burger and fries. As stated before, I don't eat much while in Vegas, so I should have just split something. I gave them the quiz we did at WoVCon and Bob would have done well.

I decided post-dinner to catch some of the Strip vibe. I drove over to Paris/Bally's (where I finally found Ellis Island casino!) and found a Tiles table for $25. The table was nearly full most of the time, and the dealer was making some good hands. Every once and a while we would co-bank which usually resulted in a push. This seemed to get the tiles moved around. I ended up about $100. I had a friend who wanted to meet me at Palace Station for some low-roller Tiles action. He had never played but wanted to learn the game. He was quite drunk, but did very well for a newbie, at least better than I did my first time. After some time, I decided I HAD to get to bed, and headed back to the Rio for another 2 hour nap!

North Las Vegas, here I come...

WoVCon ][ - Part 2

So after getting up to the room, I realized I wasn't quite ready for bed yet. Vegas has the tendency to change my metabolism and sleep cycle, to the point where I might eat once a day and sleep 4 hours if I'm lucky. I know it's not healthy, but hey, it's Vegas! Luckily I don't live there... (Keep in mind that it's now 7am EST, and I woke up the day before at 6:30am).

So I shower, hop online for a bit, then get downstairs. I figure I should probably give Rio some action, as they are putting me up in the hotel. I find a PGP table with a few players and sit down. I opt to play two hands, since I need to get some good action recorded. At first, the table was terrible, with the dealer pulling hands just big enough to beat at least one of mine every time. Eventually, the dealer cooled down, and I started winning a few. When I got back to even (after about 2 hours), I got up, cashed in the chips and went to my car to do the Southern Vegas/Henderson casino tour.

This trip was rather impromptu, but I applaud myself on actually making it a very logical sequence of casinos. I think I got nearly every one with table games, and never had to back track.

1) PALACE STATION- Before I headed down South, I thought I'd check out and see if the infamous Tiles table was open. It was, so I bet $20 a hand. Big mistake, though in a good way... I should have been betting more. I had about 4-5 hands in a row of Wong-Bo or High 9-Gong. I got up after I lost my first hand, and the dealer thought I was nuts, since I was running so hot. I also played some 9-6 JoB here.

2) SILVERTON- After reading the review on here, I was wondering what it would be like. I have to say I was impressed. I had an ACG Free $10 Slot Play, which I hit 4 Queens on, so I ended up about $50 from the machine. I also played the single deck 3:2 game, where in 4 dealt hands I got 21, 21, BJ and 21! I figured it doesn't get better than that, so I quit after one deck. I also got a free buffet for my play, good anytime, so I hope to get back there in August.

3) SOUTH POINTE- This casino reminds me a lot of Suncoast, which is good since it was built by the same people. Alas, the craps table was very cold to me, and the girl who was shooting dice looked like she fell off a turnip truck. I was surprised this place wasn't classier.

4) M CASINO- Beautiful casino that will convert easily to a Hollywood when Penn gets around to destroying it. Double deck destroyed me here, though I managed to get some of my bankroll back before cashing out. I do have to give props to the designers for the natural light element. When I read the reviews, I wasn't sure about that, but it really does make it different than most casinos.

Before you say I skipped GVR, I have been there before and had no need to collect a chip from that property.

5) FIESTA HENDERSON- As mentioned in the wrap-up threads, this is where I discovered the spot on the craps table that causes dice to fly off the table. I think the crew thought I was crazy, but I can make those dice land pretty consistently, and the die would just keep going off. As it was morning, Dan was not dealing. The casino is very nice, and it was here where I officially got my Gold Boarding Pass (Woo hoo!)

6) ELDORADO- Walked in, got my chip, walked out. Table games were closed, and I forgot it was a Boyd property until I got to Joker's Wild.

7) RAILROAD PASS- My GPS was convinced this place was in Henderson proper, so I spent a long time looking for something that was very obvious when I saw it. Basically did the same as Eldorado. The only table game open was one that had $1 coins

8) HACIENDA- There was a lot of traffic out to the Hoover Dam, so it took me a bit to get here. I played some TCP (which I don't usually do when it pays 3-1 on the flush), but it didn't matter, since I couldn't get a flush and the dealer was red hot on his hands. I was impressed with the service though, and actually the casino is nicer than what you would think it should be. I wanted a hot dog, so I waited about 4 minutes before the girl who was finishing up other orders even acknowledged me. I left without eating.

9) JOKER'S WILD- Again, forgot it was a Boyd property. They had $1 craps with .25 chips, so I bought in for $100 and played $3 on the pass line and come bets with odds (10x). I gave them my B Connected card, but they told me they were on a different system, so they took my license. I started in the middle of a roll, the shooter established the point then immediately 7d out. Then the next shooter went on a rampage, rolling numbers right and left. I eventually had my 6-8 at 10x odds and 5-9 almost there when he 7d out about 30 minutes later. THEN I got my license and new card, with a comp certificate for $10. The cashier line was exceedingly long, but the deli was fast, and the food was good.

10) KLONDIKE SUNSET- Um, I stepped in there, saw the abandoned slot machines and said this place wasn't even worth going to the cashier cage to get a chip.

11) SUNSET STATION- Much nicer place a mile down the road! Here I played some PGP, and started to have exhaustion set in. I left a bit down, and headed back to Rio for a couple hours of sleep (for real this time!)

I know I'm forgetting a place, but I have to get ready for work, so I'll update this later.

FINALLY, a word to travelers who might want to hit locals places on Fridays. Nearly every casino cashes payroll checks, so Fridays can be a tedious day if you want to cash out chips. There are separate lines for players, but it's hard to tell that, since they always look like high card holder lines. It seems the promotions they run for the payroll check cashing are pretty good... if you can avoid the temptation to gamble it all away, you could probably do well with them.

Next stop: The Whorehouse.

WoVCon ][- Part 1

Okay, so it's been about a week since I was in Vegas for WoVCon ][, and I've been putting off writing this, mostly out of exhaustion from the travel. However, I'm going up to Cleveland tomorrow, so I better start this now. This may be in multiple parts; I haven't decided yet.

First things first, I arrived on Thursday, May 10, around 8:20pm (10 minutes early), despite the plane leaving 40 minutes later. I've never figured out why they feel the need to schedule THAT much time (usually 4:30) for the flight, when it only takes about 3:30 hours. Regardless, I hiked over to the rental car shuttle buses and got my rental car.

SIDEBAR: If you haven't been to the new facility, it is very slick, though it's farther away from the airport than you realize, at least farther than I realized. However, it's set up great; I walked up to the counter, signed my life away (not really), and went downstairs to pick out my car. I chose a Blue Nissan Versa. Funny story: They told me to turn right and follow the road out. To do that, my car would have to make a 30 degree turn with a cement blockade on one side and a car on the other, with about 6 inches to spare. It took me about 5 minutes just to get the darn thing turned around so I could leave....

Anyways, I got to Rio, using my GPS, a little before 9pm. I checked into my room, and a friend met me there. He told me to park at Gold Coast across the street as the parking was terrible at Rio. I guess the San Genarro Festival was going on at the back of the property, so parking was terrible all weekend. They didn't have any major upgrades for rooms, but the clerk was very friendly and got me a decent view in the Masquerade Tower (the bigger one). The furnishings looked like they came out of the Golden Girls, and there was a strange window in the shower that peered into the bedroom. It appears as though there was a mini-bar at one time, but alas, there was nothing in there. However, the floor to ceiling windows of the back of the property and the North part of the strip on the 35th floor were pretty cool.

After freshening up, my friend Tony (who lives in Vegas) and I were going to travel and casino hop to collect $1 chips from some of the local places. I really appreciate him helping me do this, and it was fun to have somebody to gamble with. The following is the list of casinos we visited, with quick anecdotes of each one. I'm not going to do full-on reviews of each property, as 1) I probably don't remember, and 2) Most of the properties shared the same qualities... I learned that the locals market casinos tend to be a bit more cookie-cutter than other markets, but that's to be understood when you think about it...

1) TEXAS STATION- We played craps here... I got signed up for a Boarding Pass and was given, wait for it, $3 in FREE SLOT PLAY!!! I think this is the chinsiest offer I have ever received. Tony works for Aristocrat Gaming, so I played a Buffalo machine with the free play, won 1.30 and cashed out.

2) FIESTA RANCHO- Okay, this story will be longer, as it was the most interesting of the evening. We walked around when we got there, and I finally decided to play some PGP. We sat down at the table, and I bought in for $100. I was playing two hands, and the first hand I was dealt KK,22 on one hand, and a pai gow on the other. Dealer turns over her hand to reveal 5,6,Joker,8,9,9,9. The ONLY way to play the hand is a straight with a pair of 9s in the low, but she sets it as 9,9,9 with Joker,8 in the low. I debated saying anything, as PaiGowDan's voice is yelling in my ear, when the other player tells her she set it wrong.

The dealer at first doesn't react, then she puts up the 9,9, and moves the Joker,8 to the back. She goes, "I can't play it that way," and moves the cards back to the original set. She then proceeds to finish the hand. My Pai Gow and the player's hand lost, but my KK,22 became a push instead of a loss. The dealer starts to put the cards away, when the other player then calls the supervisor over and explains that she mis-set the hand. The supervisor agreed, and said there was nothing that could be done now. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a player correct the dealer, and the dealer still couldn't get it right...

Anyways, I lost money there, so we left... it was a good story for PGP dealers the rest of the trip.

3) SANTA FE STATION- Funniest thing there was after I told the aforementioned story to that dealer, she started making tactical errors for the rest of the evening. Nothing that was incorrect, just mental errors. I played PGP there.

4) RAMPART- This is where I had the best dealer the entire trip. I played on round of Double Deck, won, got my $1 chip, and we talked for a good 10 minutes without playing. She was very nice, and they were very interested in what I was about. They were especially interested in Horseshoe Cleveland opening.

5) SUNCOAST- I played craps at a very full table here. Tony couldn't get on, and I felt bad for him so I colored up as soon as the next shooter 7d out, which was fast. The box lady seemed very mad that I did that...

6) RED ROCK- Played PGP, and was the only time I was derided by a dealer about not playing the $1 Progressive. I'm sorry, but that bet is a HUGE ripoff. I don't mind playing sidebets if there is some decent return, but that was awful.

I forgot one other thing. Between Fiesta and Santa Fe, I had to get some stuff at a Wal-mart for toiletries, since I did carry-on luggage on the plane. There is a Wal-mart right behind Fiesta, and at about 1am, the place was VERY scary. I'm all about the late night culture you find at that store, but I never wanted to get out of a place so badly!

We headed back to Rio, where I said goodbye to Tony and headed up to my room to sleep... or so I thought...

Tunica trip- Weekend of 4-13/16

This will be a relatively short post, as I will only be covering what I remember, with one review sprinkled in.

First off, the trip I made during this time was SUPPOSED to be to Atlantic City (it's roughly the same driving distance from where I live). I booked at Showboat on Sunday and Monday evening. I realized I should go ahead and book Saturday night too, and to make a long story short, it turned into a fiasco that left me quite upset with Caesars policies about how they quote rates. In a nutshell, if I'm not getting it comped, I'm not staying there in the future.

Anyways, an email exchange with my host at Horseshoe Tunica landed me the ENTIRE weekend free, two nights at Harrah's and two nights at Roadhouse. I was more than pleased with this, so on Friday night, after work, I made the trip. I had the flue a couple of weeks earlier, and even today I'm still getting the remaining junk out of my system. For the most part, I was fine, though I had a coughing spell that got really nasty on the drive down. I checked into Harrah's around 2:30am, went over to Harrah's and played some Pai Gow Poker.

For the most part, the gambling was rough for me. Video Poker has reared its ugly head against me, and I probably played too much Mississippi Stud (though I did have one good session). I do want to give a shout out to Sam's Town, who still features the optimal paytable on Three Card Poker, if there's no progressive. I was the only one playing it on Saturday night, but I hit trips one time, so that made the journey worth it. I also hit a few flushes and enjoyed getting paid 4-1 (I won't play TCP if it's not that schedule anyways).

I did my walk through of Hollywood again, and I'm sorry to say it's still going downhill. This is really too bad, because I used to really enjoy the property. However 16 table games and a makeshift poker area does not make for a good casino. No wonder they are offering the $1 (+.25) blackjack game.

I do want to give a quick review of 8 Oz Burger Bar at Horseshoe. It is the only restaurant in the Horseshoe/Roadhouse casinos that is open 24 hours. This is fine, except 1) the RC ratio is 200 credits = $1 comps (as opposed to 1:1) and 2) the selection of food is limited. I had a cheeseburger, fries and chocolate malt, and the total came to $20! This is ridiculous and if I had used my comps it would have cost me 4000 RCs. I probably could have asked for a comp from a pit boss, but at the time I ate, I was done gambling for the day, and I had already gotten buffets.

Overall, the trip was financially a bust, but I had a good time and really enjoyed my stay there. WoVCon ][ is next... see you soon!

One day Hollywood trip- March 20

So yesterday I wanted to go down to Hollywood in Lawrenceburg, IN to play the PLO 8s or Better tournament they host as part of their Tri-State Poker Championship. Last year, when the WPT ran their series at Hollywood, the event had a turnout of over 150 people, due largely in part to no cash games being played on a Saturday morning. Apparently, last year they couldn't get part-time dealers approved, so nearly every dealer at Hollywood (table games included) was down in the poker area dealing tournaments.

BTW, Hollywood apparently lost its tie-ins with WPT. I'm not sure what the story is, but all of the pictures and signage is taken down or covered up. They do have the WPT logo on the tables, but I imagine that will have to change as they put in new felts. While the action at Hollywood is good and very loose, I've never been impressed with the room...

In fact, the service at Hollywood is THE WORST. After arriving about an hour before the tournament, I registered and decided to walk around upstairs. The casino is amazing; there is so much to look at it, and the theme rivals any Las Vegas casino. I walked back to the High Limit area where there is one table of Fortune Pai Gow Poker. I approached the table with a smile and said "Hi!" The dealer not only didn't say Hi, she didn't even smile at all. She scooped up the cards and appeared annoyed to have someone at her table.

FIRST HAND... I'm dealt a straight flush! I'm kind of happy about that, and the dealer just quietly paid it out, no congratulations, no excitement... NOTHING. I shouldn't have even tipped $5 (normally I do $10 on a SF), but it was my first hand. I played for about 30 minutes, occasionally getting the dealer to talk. When I left, I tipped $2 since I ended up about $250 (the amount of the bonus). I'm telling you, if Hollywood thinks its going to survive when Horseshoe opens, they've got another thing coming. If Hollywood Columbus is that bad with service, people will be willing to make the drive to better markets.

So I go downstairs to play the tournament. It was very aggressive and I got knocked out a bit early, did one re-entry (which I later learned was different than a rebuy, allowing them to recharge the tournament fee). I got knocked out again, and quit playing there. I'm not sure I'll ever return to Hollywood. I like PLO 8s and have done well there in the past, but the service is so incredibly lousy and they really are ripping people off more than ever... I think I can be done with that place.

I decided I wanted to play some craps, so I drove down to Rising Star, about 15 minutes away. When I got there, the craps table was full, so I played MS Stud on the machine (2 min). I was getting my A-- handed to me, but then caught a full house and a two pair which got me back up. I cashed out and then played Spanish 21.

In the first shoe I played, I lost 29 bets!!!! I'm pretty sure this is my new record. After the first shoe, it was never that bad, in fact I had a couple of decent shoes, but when you get raped like that from the get go you tend to play way more conservative and thus make mistakes. I know I shouldn't let it affect me, but when you EXPECT 19 and 20 to lose against a dealer anything, that's when you know it's bad. I got a comp to the buffet, ended down about 200, and left.

Overall, for the trip I ended down a little less than 400, which is a bit disappointing. However, I had a good time, and learned a valuable lesson: Don't ever go to Hollywood Casino again!!!