Topeka Trip

[MikeA]

Left early Sunday morning and got back to Wichita around 7pm Monday night.Golden Eagle first:  Yes "benford's law" I did find that bank of 9/7 DB quarter machines.  I pretty much stayed even on the VP and stuck it out for an even break on the 6-deck blackjack.  It's not a tremendous table except that they do cut deep...usually around 1 deck of card!  But, dealer hits soft 17 so the game is still around -.64% with basic strategy.Went back to Prairie Band to sleep and ended up playing BJ there.  I didn't intend to but my wife gave me a $5 match play which I had to jump through hoops to use.  Had to take the coupon to the player's club and exchange it for a voucher which I could then play.  I went to the only $5 table intending to play only that one match play, but when I put the coupon down along with a $5 bill, I drew an eleven.  Keeping with my intent of only playing that one hand, I didn't double (dealer had a Ten showing).  I drew a paint and won the hand.  The dealer spread out $20 in red chips and pulled the coupon but left my original red chip bet.  I still haven't figured out how I ended up with $25 on a $10 bet!  I took the money and ran.  But I was bored.  I couldn't find anything close to full pay other than All American Poker and I'm not up on the strategy on that game, so I eventually migrated back to the blackjack table and bought in for $100.  These are 8-deck shoes, H17 with at least 2 decks cut off.  I went through that $100 in less than 1-1/2 shoes!  Man, I couldn't hit ANYTHING and when I did the dealer either turned a BJ or drew to 21.  Bed time!One thing I'll say about Prairie Band...the rest of this month and all of next month, their $25.00 double deck tables are employing the same rules (except for splitting aces which you can split only one time) as the 8-deck game! Double after Split (except aces).  Double on anything.  Split to 4 hands.  Darn good Double Deck rules and the pen was close to 70%!  Wish I could have afforded playing for quarters!Back to Golden Eagle.  Same story on VP.  Just couldn't get anything going.  So, settled into a Double Deck BJ game for $5 minimums.  Pen was good.  Not such good rules though.  Split aces once only.  No double after split.  Double ONLY on hard 8, 9, 10 or 11.  No doubles on soft hands.  Still, it was worthy.  I bought in for $80 and colored for $195 using a 1-5 spread and a KO count.We stopped in at Sac & Fox on the way home.  Nothing to write about concerning VP there.  Killed time playing $3 BJ on a 6-deck shoe table where dealer S17.  You don't find many of those any more.  I doubled my buyin there.  Didn't bother counting since I was playing just to kill time while dreading the 3-1/2 hour drive home.Though VP pretty much sucked (no full pay at all except for the AAP at Prairie Band) but it was a fun trip and a good diversion.

[wilcoxfun]

your trip sounds like my trip to Aztar in Evansville.  I could not win at video poker but it is also horrible pay table. I went to blackjack and was up a little over $175 so quit.  I ate supper on a comp they had given us.  Then went back to blackjack table with a $100 buyin.  I lost that $100 in about a shoe LOL!
 
Ended up going to play slots on a progressive and hit on it for $240 so decided time to head home.  I was right at even for the day so that is a great time for us.

[Benford's Law]

MikeA,
        Thanks for checking out the Golden Eagle. 
I knew those 9/7 DB quarters had to be there somewhere.
I remember at least one machine there that had 9/7 DB at dollars, too.
         Are you still running dry on your royals?
As you know, I went two years without one before getting that 50-cent one last month.  Nothing since then (but a lot of close calls).
 
      ~Benford's Law

[MikeA]

MikeA,
        Thanks for checking out the Golden Eagle. 
I knew those 9/7 DB quarters had to be there somewhere.
I remember at least one machine there that had 9/7 DB at dollars, too.
         Are you still running dry on your royals?
As you know, I went two years without one before getting that 50-cent one last month.  Nothing since then (but a lot of close calls).
 
      ~Benford's LawYep, still "dry on Royals".  Except here on the Games.  I've hit a couple in multiline games and have hit 3 or 4 in practice with my simulator at home.  But for casinos, wild-royals aside, I'm DRY.

[Benford's Law]

MikeA,
       I am going to "very carefully" approach this topic because our dear friend Rob the motorcycle guy was the original one who brought it up, but I did think it was funny....
       He suggested playing a lot of hands on a simulator at home until you go on a long dry spell without quads or the royal, THEN go out to the casino to let the "natural odds catch up on it".  Conversely, if you are doing very well at the simulators, stay away from the casinos until you have another long dry spell at home.....
       Just for kicks, I was playing at Isle of Capri KC last week and I went through $250 at the 25-cent AA games without a single 4-of-a-kind.  Remebering Rob's cute little simulator comment, I hightailed it over to Harrah's KC to play a 3-play 50-cent 9/7 DB machine thinking it would be nice to make up for my missing quads there.  Sure enough, I turned $200 into $500 in about 30 minutes by catching three non-special quads and a single set of quad aces.
       ~Benford's Law
      

[MikeA]

BFL,It is not unusual for me to mentally keep track of the hands that I've had and there is no way I can avoid imagining patterns.  This morning, I played the "you-know-what" out of TDB and lost my butt.  Went down 1500 credits in 942 hands.  I noticed that any time I was dealt a pair of sixes, I might as well toss the hand.  Never hit anything with 6's as a starting draw.  Then I noticed that I never seemed to be hitting if I was dealt a pair that bookended the other three cards.  I never drew to a singleton Ace and paired.  Of course, to be honest, I was NOT getting ANY trips, quads or anything else!But seriously, I cannot but help noticing or imagining patterns of cards during play.  I mean, after several hundred hands, you sort of go on automatic and your mind wanders.What does that have to do with your Harrah'$ quads?  Nothing.  Just that it doesn't matter much what or where you play, you are going to hit those "streaks".  For cheap VP, Isle of Capri is the best of the Missouri casinos right now.With their full pay quarter AAP and Pick-em, they have the other three casinos beat hands down!

[Benford's Law]

MikeA,
     I agree with you about the Isle being the best place to play, definitely.
I just went over to Harrah's on a whim after thinking about Rob's simulator comment.  When you have to fork over $7.50 on each hand just for the opportunity to play a 99.1% DB game at Harrah's.....it's obvious there are some very mean people working as slot managers at Harrah's KC these days.  Having said this, it makes winning money at these greedy "clip joints" that much more satisfying!   (Who would you rather take money from?  A nice guy or a miserly stooge?)
     I always am amazed that a $15 billion company like Harrah's feels the need to be so cheap and stingy on their VP games while a company valued at less than $1 billion (Isle of Capri) is so much more generous with their offerings.
     I stay away from TDB games.....Even at quarters, the 90+ variance created by those three-of-a-kinds paying only 10 credits is enough to scare me off......
    
     ~Benford's Law 

[MikeA]

MikeA,     I stay away from TDB games.....Even at quarters, the 90+ variance created by those three-of-a-kinds paying only 10 credits is enough to scare me off......
    
     ~Benford's Law  I never play these in the casino.  NEVER!  But it's kind of fun to make the huge swings when you are playing for nothing or having to go-for-the-fence in a tournament.  I posted a possible bug report on TDB in VPW because I thought the variance was too high.  Maybe it isn't a bug!  I didn't even think about the detriment that the 2x 30ak had on the game.BTW...on KC...the last I heard, Argosy was showing the best attendance and profits a few months ago.  They overtook and passed AmeriStar in profit percentage.  That was after AmeriStar removed ALL of their full-pay machines.  They don't (or didn't) even have 9/6 JOB.  They also removed all of the $3 BJ tables and loaded the upstairs with $5 and $10 tables.  I'm talking about 6-deck games too!My wife and daughter are going up there this weekend (I'm babysitting my grandson and """I'm""" the winner here!)  I hope they have relaxed a bit at AmeriStar.  Definitely, it is the casino with the best facilities.

[Benford's Law]

MikeA,
       Yes, shaving off 5 credits from the 3-of-a-kind payout makes a HUGE difference where volatility is concerned.  Most video poker games with no wild cards have a very large percentage of their payback centered around the 3-of-a-kind.  It is almost as bad as taking the 2-pair payout down from 10 to 5 when you're not playing 8/5 BP or 9/6 JoB.
        I like Ameristar KC; it is a nice and pretty place to relax with a wide variety of good food to enjoy.  I do sorely miss their full-pay Pick 'Em games, and they are still the lousy downgraded 95-96% variety as we speak.
        I don't mind playing the 25c 9/7/5 DB progressives (royal only) at the upstairs circle bar with the big circle television.  Gotta be careful, though, because there is another circle bar upstairs that only has 9/6/4 DB progressives (96.3%....yuck!).  If you run into that upstairs, just run over to the other circle bartop; it always seems to have more people there .  There are some more 9/7/5 DB prog.'s at a downstairs bar, too.
      ~Benford's Law

[Fourdcs]

Just a comment - I've hit more Royal's on the "bad pay" circle bar than on the other one.  We've played Ameristar every since Station Casino's built it.  The past 1 1/2 - 2 years it's been all about the share holders.  VP was screwed down tight and comps were cut to almost nothing.  But, it seems that Ameristar woke up because customer base was dropping rapidly & Kansas approved casino's.  The past few months a lot of Royal's have been hit and more 4 OAK's are being seen.  My wife hit 4 Royal's and I hit 3 in Oct.  It's been a very long time since that's happened.