Pechanga Casino - Paradise for 9/6 Jacks Or Better

Who has your favorite video poker games? Who should have more?
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heikkie
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Re: Pechanga Casino - Paradise for 9/6 Jacks Or Better

Post by heikkie »

Hello
Thanks for the reply
Yeah it is comps. I was calculating the expected return, thats all. For recreational play Pechanga is excellent, Not so much for advantage play.
BTW what food would you recommend for table-side dining? (eating while playing live poker). I only know the teriyaki bowl is good.

Thanks for the advise for vegas....
Yeah, live poker are like tournament and cash game (no limit holdem, limit omaha etc,.)

Wonder where do you live (travel time to pechanga, vegas?)
I live in San Diego and I mainly play live poker. But I also do advantage VP play if there is good promotion (there is a pretty good one on black friday 100.6% with GTO and CB)



alpax
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Post by alpax »

Hello
Thanks for the reply
Yeah it is comps. I was calculating the expected return, thats all. For recreational play Pechanga is excellent, Not so much for advantage play.
BTW what food would you recommend for table-side dining? (eating while playing live poker). I only know the teriyaki bowl is good.

Thanks for the advise for vegas....
Yeah, live poker are like tournament and cash game (no limit holdem, limit omaha etc,.)

Wonder where do you live (travel time to pechanga, vegas?)
I live in San Diego and I mainly play live poker. But I also do advantage VP play if there is good promotion (there is a pretty good one on black friday 100.6% with GTO and CB)




Sorry I have not updated in a while. I do not play live poker to know what is good on the seat side menu, I just know how good the poker room there is. I am in Los Angeles County which is about 65 miles north of the casino, you are on the opposite end if you hail from the SD area. It is good value to play VP here, you could risk little as 5 cents denomination and still have fun, but its hard to get a seat with all these keno players on the floor. However, nothing beats Vegas in terms of Video Poker.

Trip Report Summary for November and December 2015


I did not think I would play as much I did the last two months, but I made 8 trips instead of the usual 1 or 2 a
month. It will take a while to do each one so I will just do a summary of some highlights of those combined trips.
I had a good time most importantly, but it definitely took a lot of time to make those trips. I am slow at these things so it still took an hour to do the summary.

I walked out a loser on 4 of those trips, including 2 brutal ones where I walked out with an empty bankroll. The three winning days were able to overshadow the losses fortunately, with the 8th (and the 4th winning) visit I wrote about on the Recreational forums giving me a boost. Here goes to the best of my memory.

Super Times Pay Mega Progressive Update

I am for certain that the 2nd bank of six machines are no longer available, I searched the big casino floor enough
times to notice. The jackpot has finally reached $80,000 as of the 23rd of December, I see 3 or 4 playing it
most of the time so it is getting more action than it started.

Two successful attempts at Max Dollar CS

It is not so much cheap anytime when the CS is magnified by 20 folds, I might as refer it to the Phil strategy.
I needed the coin in to be able to spin the wheel promotion, so that is the reason I raised the stakes higher.

Went 1 for 3 on one visit
Went 0 for 3 on another visit
Went 2 for 2 on the last visit finishing off with Jacks or Better play

I was able to hit the cash out with a decent $5 hit, and a $25 dealt 4 of a kind to reach the goal.





Another hit to finish at the cashout mark, just barely...



The other time I was able to cash out was when I was at the low denomination point and I got the quad Deuces after just holding one Deuce and not expecting
much out of an ugly hand.



Not playing CS, but a Second set of Quad Deuces during the time Frame

While I was playing Bonus DW with my double down approach (5 straight hands without a deuce dealt, I will double my bet). I got another. I saw absolutely no set of Quad Deuces last year playing DW, this year I got to see 5 or 6 of them (2 of them at other casinos). A windfall like this is always a welcoming sight.



Some Decent Promotions

A good reason I found myself making more visits to the casino.

I was able to get the Oakley Luggage with 2500 points of play the day before Veteran's Day



I got a free Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, retails for $50.



I played much higher volume on the two trips where the spin the wheel bonuses were available. Happens two times
a year so its very rare. I played enough to spin the lower and upper tier wheels, $20k coin in, wont do that for any other reason. I used Jacks or Better to fulfill most of the coin in.







Food and Beer Pictures

I went by Kelsey's a few more times to try out their other parts of the menu.

Alcohol is not comped in the state of CA, so I dished out $11 ($9 cost + tax and tip) for the touted beer pour sampler. Yes, beer is expensive at this casino, but I had to try at least.



1. Angry Orchid Cider (5.5% I think? ABV)
2. Lagunitas IPA (6.2% ABV)
3. Stone IPA (7% I think? ABV)
4. Pear Cider (5% I think? ABV)

I am not close to being a beer connoisseur as Vman is, so my opinion bears no meaning nor can I give a sip rating. I could not taste the fruity essence on the Ciders, high alcohol presence. Lagunitas has a strong buzz to it the moment you sip it, and Stone IPA was solid all around. I asked for a recommendation on the 2 beers after I picked out both the ciders.

Another time I tried a local brew. Refugee Brewery Blood Orange Wit (5% ABV), this brewery is located in the same city as the casino in the city of Temecula. There is also a big winery in the city as well. I told the bartender I wanted a Shocktop (I am into the Orange Wheat), and she suggested I try this instead of it. It was pretty good I must admit, I will get it again in the future.



I tried out the apricot glazed salmon with corn on the cob and the tritip salad on another day.





I lost the picture of the pineapple pie, but it was good too. It might be my favorite food joint in the casino now.



I do not pictures of the Buffet, but I had the prime rib buffet one of the nights.

I went by the Italian restaurant (Paissano's, somewhat decent but its the least favorite that is not at the food
court), and ended up trying the daily special, the red snapper. The garnish and flavoring of the dish was good, but I did not like the texture of the fish. I suppose I am more favored towards the grilled salmon offered at other restaurants. Very pricey, $34.



The Berry Lime Pancotta dessert made up for the main dish, price too $9. Used a chunk of my comp balance for the meal.



Two DW Potshots that Hit

I took three or four potshots each visits at $5 denomination DW and Bonus DW, and some of them hit to give me a decent boost in the bankroll. A 4 of a kind or full house is nice, but these are the two noteworthy ones.





A mighty successful run at aggressive Jacks or Better approach.

For Jacks or Better, to get the points needed for the wheel spin I tried out an aggressive strategy on Jacks or Better. Instead of single potshotting at higher stakes, I decided to tlay until I lose 4 times ($100). I went on a semi nice run before reaching the 4 losses. A flush, a straight, a few 3 of a kinds and two pairs, but the big boost were the 3 Full Houses, those are nearly as good as hitting a quad on lower stakes. I do not expect this result to be the norm. Needed this to survive the high coin in requirement for the wheel spin.







I will be making one last visit the next day to wrap up 2015, but I can say this year has been much better to me than the last year.

alpax
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Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:42 pm

Post by alpax »

Forgot to include a segment from the 8th trip.

I posted details about the Bonus Deuces Wild W2G Win on the Recreational Forums.

Link

NEW GAME: Barnyard Poker has made its way to this casino

While I walked towards Kelsey's for a lunch break, I discovered a circular bank of 4 machines nearby with a huge sign that I've recognized from this website. It was Barnyard Poker.



I looked at the denominations and games available

There is no 2 cent denomination, but I saw that 50 cent and $1 denominations were available. Something I did not see prior.

DDB - 9/5 - All denominations

Deuces Wild - 20/12/10 Fooler - All denominations

TDB - 9/5 for 5 cents/10 cents, 9/6 for the rest

Boner Deluxe - 8/5 for 5 cents/10 cents, 9/6 for the rest

Jacks or Better - 8/5 - All denominations, I will have to double check this since I did not know that changing denomination may have different paytable

Double Bonus - 9/6/4 for 5/10 cents, 9/6/5 for the rest

I did not spot Bonus Deuces Wild, I will double check.

I decided to play some since I was up for the day from that Bonus DW CS run. I decided to play until the animals from both sides popped, I picked Boner Deluxe since it was the most similar to Jacks or Better strategy. I played about 13 rounds. The first animal popped at 16x, and I got a pair of kings at 6x. The second animal popped and I was able to get something decent.



I played this game for hours since its debut and I got nothing good other than low quads with a kicker and no multipliers active. Ironically, the two times I played Barnyard Poker at a live casino with real money wagers were the times I was able to win the most.

I played 13 times at $7.50 a round, 30 credits at quarters. I saw my points increase by 45 or so.

I can confirm this game is set at $2 coin in per point, might be an option for me to rack up points if I need to next time.

Vman96
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Post by Vman96 »

Nice hits all around in both threads!

But I'm guessing you meant 8/6 Bonus Deluxe at quarters for Barnyard Poker. 9/6 should be forbidden according to IGT media sheets. I've had mixed results hitting and running the game. Definitely no multiplied quad yet!

And yeah, beer in casinos isn't usually cheap unless you're in a jurisdiction that comps. I tried the new craft beer bar at Sam's Town Tunica this month, and paid $10 for a four beer setup like you had since it wasn't on the gaming floor. However, I was able to use points to pay for it at least and food/drink counts double. Stone and Lagunitas IPA are good examples of West Coast IPAs.

alpax
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Post by alpax »

Nice hits all around in both threads!

But I'm guessing you meant 8/6 Bonus Deluxe at quarters for Barnyard Poker. 9/6 should be forbidden according to IGT media sheets. I've had mixed results hitting and running the game. Definitely no multiplied quad yet!

And yeah, beer in casinos isn't usually cheap unless you're in a jurisdiction that comps. I tried the new craft beer bar at Sam's Town Tunica this month, and paid $10 for a four beer setup like you had since it wasn't on the gaming floor. However, I was able to use points to pay for it at least and food/drink counts double. Stone and Lagunitas IPA are good examples of West Coast IPAs.

Thanks for going through the summary. A weekly trip is not the norm so I fell behind. Left out a whole slew of $1 Jacks or Better quads.

I did mistype for the Barnyard Poker along with a few other areas on the summary, tried to do it as efficient as possible (modern web browsers offer on the fly spell check, but no grammar check like Microsoft Word does). It is indeed 8/6 and not 9/6 for Bonus Deluxe (lurked on VegasMessageBoard/WizardOfVegas too many times to refer it to what I mentioned earlier). It would have been about a 2% jump which would be too good to be true, rather than the 1% jump on the other games from switching from nickel and dimes to quarter and above. I knew that 8/6 Bonus Deluxe was a superior paytable than 9/5 DDB so that was another reason I went with it, 8/5 Jacks is not worth it. Thinking about it, I am still pleased with the result of this than many of the earlier successful runs I had.

I just did not know how much beer costed in other states so I assumed beer was expensive here. It costs about 2 dollars more than most local bars that have happy hour (only time there is a happy at Kelsey's is during a football game). They charge $6.25 for a 16oz pour and $7.75 for a 20oz pour, I saw the prices were seemingly proportional so I derived it as 25 cent for glass + 37.5 cents an ounce. To get four 6.5 ounce samples for $9 was a better value, and the bartender always tempts its customers about the value of it.

I wish I could use my comp balance to cover the beer, but the state law goes to an extent to even prohibit that (I think its amongst the strictest in the nation due to so many DUI cases). The management of this casino strongly feels they would have utterly dominated the gambling market from Vegas if they were allowed to comp alcohol. The food counting for double on (with 40% off at Vegas properties) Boyd's B Connected card program is a good perk for sure.

The last trip to wrap up 2015 turned out good as well so I will write it up when I get the chance shortly.

djc32
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Post by djc32 »

Great write up alpax. I'm very interested in trying out your max bet version of the CS, keep us updated with your progress. Congrats on your successful 2nd half of the year, and good luck in the new year!

alpax
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Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:42 pm

Post by alpax »

Great write up alpax. I'm very interested in trying out your max bet version of the CS, keep us updated with your progress. Congrats on your successful 2nd half of the year, and good luck in the new year!

Thanks djc32! Appreciate it for reading through the summary. The down parts of the Spring did not get me discouraged, took longer breaks and continued to play shorter sessions since free casino play is awarded weekly.

Additional information I can provide with the max bet CS or Phil's system.

I would only recommend it at only places where there is the following pay tables:

Not So Ugly Deuces Wild (25 WildRoyal / 16 5ofaKind / 10 Straight Flush)

Airport/Ugly Deuces Wild (25 WildRoyal / 15 5ofaKind / 9 Straight Flush)

Bonus Deuces Wild FP (25 WildRoyal / 9 Straight Flush / 4 for 4ofaKind and Full House)

Bonus Deuces Wild Non-FP (25 WildRoyal / 13 Straight Flush / 4 for 4ofaKind / 3 for Full House).

Otherwise for the poorer DW games, I recommend skipping playing them all together or using the original single coin strategy for those.

It is easier to find the quality Deuces Wild games in California/Vegas/Colorado markets, there is only one or two places with $5 NSU in Vegas. NSU at the high stakes is primarily found in California casinos. NSU at the low stakes is primarily found in Nevada and Colorado, at the $5 stakes you will only get Airport (not big of a loss unless your session runs into many Straight Flushes and 5ofaKinds).

The best place to find the good Bonus DW is in the Midwest, but the non-FP one is not too bad either.

The Hard Rock casinos in Florida definitely has Airport Deuces widely available at the denominations perfect for the system though FP refuses to explore that route.

The "one-stop" place for this is: M Resort / Palms Casino / Boyd Properties / obviously Pechanga Casino

It may look very intimidating to see the $25 bet levels from starting at $1 max bet, or the $5 bet levels from starting at 25 cents, but truthfully you only run into the opportunity to make a very few of these bets. You still play at the lowest bet levels at 80% of the time or so. I would say 1 or 2 on average per starting point ($100 for quarters, $200 for half-dollars, $400 for dollars) will you be making the highest denomination bet. Converting on this bet is the total game changer for sure, it will be able to stretch out the bankroll for much longer. One or two hits of Straight Flush or greater at the middle tier bet levels is good enough for a cashout.

The average odds for a successful cashout (e.g. $100 start into $250+ cashout or $400 start into $1000+ cashout) is about 1 in slightly less than 3.

I usually do either 4 max quarter Phil's strategy or just 1 max dollar Phil's strategy probably once a month. The only reason I did it 8 times was to be able to get the club card points to spin the virtual wheel. Out of those 8 tries, I think I bet $25 no more than 11 times combined.

jsm2016
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Post by jsm2016 »

Regarding Joker Jacks - is this game still available at Pechanga? Asked slot attendants recently (within week) and they could not find machine. 


alpax
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Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:42 pm

Post by alpax »

Regarding Joker Jacks - is this game still available at Pechanga? Asked slot attendants recently (within week) and they could not find machine. 



It is no longer there, it only lasted for 2 months at most last year. Not sure if it is due to lack of play because I never saw anyone playing on it.

Some bad news to report as well, I'll post an update later this week.

alpax
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Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:42 pm

Post by alpax »

Sorry guys for the lack of updates, some devistating happened this year which was hard to overcome personally. After all these months here goes.

Depressing News for Video Poker on February 2016

1. The bank of Barnyard Poker machines are no longer available

They've been replaced with the typical IGT slots like Kitty Glitter, Cats, She's a Rich Girl. I think people were only playing nickel denomination, and I have witnessed some people try to pick off large multipliers (when the critters get fat) left behind by players. Casinos are all about business and will often switch out any and every machine that does not generate adequate profit, so totally understandable. It is a shame how short lived it was, even though people just played a little winged it. but Ultimate X is still doing extremely well.

2. The New Game King Bartop Replacements

Back in April 2015, it began a transition to the casino floor, when the old Game King units got phased out with the newer ones with LED screens. I enjoy them since it is better on the eyes and the speed of the machines are faster. The bartops were old and was still functioning property. The old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", well they fixed it up...

Though it looks nicer, it comes with the same games and paytables as the $1 / $2 / $5 configuration Game King bank. The casino has 4 bars, 3 of them got this facelift including the High Limit Room which I thought was the best bartop VP I've ever seen in the casinos I've been too. This "upgrade" of machines will represent a "downgrade" of games in the high limit room bars.



What this really means...

Farewell to 9/6 Bonus Deluxe (the new one comes with 8/6)
Farewell to more NSU Deuces Wild machines
Farewell to ACE$ Bonus Poker
Farewell to more $5 / $10 / $25 denomination availability (needed these to play the Phil strategy on max dollar Deuces Wild)
Hello to more $5 Bonus Deuces Wild (have to think positive ...)

I think this is the worst part of the bad news by far.

3. Super Times Pay Mega Fail...

Might be very disappointing to tell Vman this, but it would be short lived. I clearly remember the marketing hype the casino put up for this, but the demand was not there. I looked at the jackpot amount on every visit but could not find it on the February visit. I did not ask any casino staff what happened, I just accepted it as their business decision. Even with an online search engine, I cannot find what other casinos have it.

That is all for the bad news ... Jacks or Better is still available to play though

The Replacement for STP Mega Progressive bank

Unlike what happened to Barnyard Poker, the machines take over the bank of six were video poker related.
There were 3 All Star Poker II Units. And there are 3 specialty games that I found on videopoker.com

February to July 2016

Super Hand Poker, Triple Wheel Poker, Peek Ahead Poker





As of August 2016 (I took a trip this past week), the All Star Poker II machines stayed, but the other three got replaced with ones that require GOLD membership here to practice

Super 6 Card Draw



Hard to see because I took it from a distance zoomed in, players were playing on it so I did not want to look like a stalker.

It is Split Card Draw Poker and Powerhouse Poker



First Time Seeing and Playing Over 100% Return Video Poker

The middle circular bar where they have big club parties at Friday Nights still retained its bartops. The only issue is that all the games are short pay, but it was all linked to a progressive.

I know that 7/5 Bonus Poker waas 98.01% return with optimal play, and when the Royal Flush progressive amount reaches double the amount, you can add
2% more to the overall return. I purposely did push the quarter denomination to check out the progressive. I noticed the meter past $4000. I thought I mistakenly pushed the $1 denomination, but I double checked that my eyes were not deceiving me at all. I had no doubt in my mind it was 100%+



I had a $20 bill to try out 16 rounds and cash out. Each $1.25 bet moved the progressive up by a penny, after the fourth one it went up by 2 cents.
After the 16 rounds, it went up 20 cents. From this, I determined that the progressive grows at 1% coin in. Still baffled that the progressive got that high. Lucky to the one that hits it, the people that were playing on that morning were playing keno!

More Demand for Nickel and Dime Keno / VP in Summer 2016

There were a limited amount of Game King banks with the 5 cent / 10 cent / 25 cent / $1 denomination configuration. I suggested low roller VP players
would have to show up early morning to play them before the Keno crowd comes. It is not so much the case anymore. Due to the high demand of low denomination play and not many play at $2 denomination, a chunk of the 25 cent / 50 cent / $1 / $2 denomination configuration got changed into the low denomination. I feel like there are ample spots to play low denomination throughout the day now, maybe except for the busy weekends.

This bank adds 22 more low denomination play alone!



Interesting Casino Happenings

The ever so popular Buffalo slot by Aristocrat (a leading slot manufacturer in the world) has released an iteration called Buffalo Grand last year which is based on a large progressive. The casino made headlines in the casino industry when one player hit the Native American progressive of over $700k. The winner chose to remain anonymous. Just only a week later, on the very same slot machine, another GRAND Jackpot was hit. Both wins were verified as legitimate upon validation.





Interview with the 2nd winner video

Press Release on Aristocrat Gaming's Website as Proof!

The casino had a spectacular event to honor Lunar New Year, their high rolling clientele is mostly made up of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean players; they did a great favor to them.

I have my own set of pictures of the event, but this one is my favorite to look at.



I dined at Blazing Noodles that day with my mailer food credits, one the restaurants at Pechanga. It was good. Sweet and Sour Pork with Green Tea Cream Brulee.





I got my hands on the limited edition Players Club Card which honors the Year of the Monkey. Means "Monkey" in black characters.



Not so good results on limited play

I only made a few visits thus far, the results have not been too good, particularly Bonus Deuces Wild. Went on a nasty streak of no 5 Aces, 3s, 4s, 5s
and no Quad Deuces. The game was kind to me at the beginning, but now I am feeling how negative of a swing this game can get, almost as bad as DDB.
To pace my bankroll I will not play that again for a while.

Two of the noteworthy hits

I doubled down my bet



I took a potshot at least once a visit, and one of them was decent, would have been better if it was on DW, but I decided already to give it a break.



I plan on playing more often, I was not able to due to personal circumstances this year more so than being distraught by the news earlier. I hope the next update is good and will happen sooner.

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