Harrahs AC with DB

[jetermacaw]

Had a great visit with DB on Thursday covering a wide variety of topics. I look forward to my visits with him because he is such an engaging individual and inspiration with how he deals with life. Also had the pleasure of meeting his lovely mom. Unfortunately the VP Gods were not kind to me this week but I'll be back at it next week.

[FAA]

VP was rather indifferent to me today. At Bally's, I got my $25 FP to $55. Then I lost it all. No quads in eighty minutes. Does anyone win at Bally's? Please share any victorious session. At Caesars, I hit a personal best five quads in 2.75 hours. I left town up a whopping $10 after the trip cost. Desperate and degenerate enough to play 8/5 JOB in High Roller room when my Progressive bank was full. As expected, I lost good money after bad. I was down to my last $8. I bet $3 and was generously dealt four sixes for $75. Needless to say, I fled like a bat out of hell for the now half empty bank. Four quads would follow, but I only added another $20 to the wallet. Even when I win I lose.

[DaBurglar]

Had a great visit with DB on Thursday covering a wide variety of topics. I look forward to my visits with him because he is such an engaging individual and inspiration with how he deals with life. Also had the pleasure of meeting his lovely mom. Unfortunately the VP Gods were not kind to me this week but I'll be back at it next week.That's nice of you to say sir, and to be honest, I find your accounts of all the Harrah's stories and experiences you have to be far more engaging than anything I have to share....your gregarious nature in welcoming me into your "hangout" and letting me drink all the ginger ale I can handle is quite nice too (FYI  for those of you who do not know, Jeter is almost as iconic as "Norm" from cheers when it comes to MCcormick and schmidts at Harrahs.)My weeklong trip, from which I just returned, was among the absolute worst I have ever experienced, both in terms of gambling (both live poker AND video poker), but also because of a whole crap load of annoying things and issues which I will talk about later in my own thread.There were a few (precious few) high points to talk about, apart from simply chatting with jeter for a hour and a half.   I had dinner in Harrahs Buffet with my mother, and afterward we went back on the casino floor and briefly met up again with Jeter as he was playing his favorite quick quad machine.     I went over to try the two five star machines which are (relatively new) on the harrahs floor, and proceeded to stink the bank of machines up with my results (or lack of results).....so afterwards I went and tried the machine Jeter was previously playing (the 3/5/10 QQ machine)    Jeter had shared with me earlier that he was having success playing the machine with "normal" coin in, meaning he was playing it with 5 credits like a normal machine and not the 6 credits that Quick Quaks demands......he said he was getting a fairly decent number of NORMALLY occurring quads.      I tried the machine playing 5 line nickel Double Bonus.....I played a total of 1200 hands and scored 5 quads, which is far more than the expected 1 quad every 440 hands or so you nornally expect......so I think Jeter was onto something with that approach!    Don't ask me why or how it worked.......either way, because I was playing nickels, I did not win diddly, but it was a nice brief respite from the disaster elsewhere (more on that to come.....)Bottom line, Harrahs itself is one of the three or four remaining AC properties that I believe are still worthwhile and still clean and classy enough to warrant interest (Borgata and Golden Nugget, the other two marina properties are still worth some attention imo)    Tropicana is worthwhile in terms of the sheer variety and scope of offerings in the dining arena, and it still has enough video poker variety while not having gone to the dreaded server-based system yet.

[FAA]

I also like those four properties overall. Harrah's and Borgata VP let me play for the most part. I've never played at GN. I go there purely to relax. Tropicana usually takes me to the cleaners. I'm not going out of my way to get hustled. Speaking of which, Bally's may as well have the greeters wear ski masks. Resorts has great waitresses, restos and decent entertainment. VP was a massive struggle to break even for me. Taj has a nice food court and lounge areas; never have or will play VP. I can acceptably hang in at Caesars. Until it becomes unplayable, I will be grinding there. AC in a nutshell.

[notes1]

got a last minute call from junket group for trip to AC (FRI-SUN) and instead of normal answer (no), i decided to go. had not been there in 4-6 months. DB and jeter, i remembered you were going to meet and was going to stop in, but saw you were scheduled for thursday, one day before my arrival.   stayed at harrahs and did most of my play there. had $65 free play from caesars, played about 1 hour, got lucky splitting up a full house (three 2's) and drawing the 4th along with kicker, on TDB. i have lost plenty there, so walking away with $500 was very small revenge. probably will not see anymore free play from them. overall, lost about $1k for the 3 days. the state of AC gambling? do not go enough anymore to draw any conclusions. in the last year, i have played at AC, N.F., tampa and cherokee. there is one consistency that has always existed, but seems more obvious. the very longggg streaks of nothing. i will repeat, this has always existed, but they appear to last longer and not just for me. i move around a lot, so i get a good read on what is going on around the entire area i play. and, as we all know, some players avoid getting on a machine, that has had a nice payout. as a result, i can see if anyone has won. it is not unusual anymore to be in an area where row after row of machines, has no significant payout. i/m/o, these long winless streaks, makes one even more dependent upon premium hands, not just normal quads. as far as AC in general, it continues to deteriorate, very sad. one may not agree with me, but i have long felt the reason the country in general is not recovering financially as fast as it should at this point in the economic cycle, is because lack of optimism and a general state of despair by many. AC seems to be the same, but on steroids. there is an 'air of hoplessness'. what is the next shoe to drop? i had said before, AC will be the subject of business courses for years to come. just like the great recession, they were both man made failures.    

[FAA]

Correct to screw the full house and go for quad deuces and ten times the payout. Potentially, you lose 25 coins, but you have to justify the junket time cost. I guess it even works out sometimes! Interesting that you lost $1,000 on the trip anyway.I cannot abide a daily loss over $50. I've seen some good hits at Caesars lately, but no personal gains.

[notes1]

faa, all players would be wise to follow your self imposed budget constraints. but, a  common mistake would be to assume that everyone has the exact same financial situation.  from my point of view, if a casino is going to fly me, and my wife if she had wanted to go, provide ground transportation, rooms, food and a pleasant/safe place to play, i would expect it to cost something. as long as everything is on the up and up, they are a business and have a right to charge for their services. that is why there is a built in advantage for the casino.  if a couple from up north wanted to escape the cold and go to florida for the weekend, what would it cost. couple of plane tickets, 2 nights in a nice hotel, your food and a cab ride back/forth to the airport. suddenly, a $1k sounds like a good deal.  

[FAA]

That's true. You are merely shelling out for the "hospitality", with the implicit understanding that without a quid pro quo, hospitality will vanish from the horizon. It was a pretty decent deal regardless of VP results.

[DaBurglar]

got a last minute call from junket group for trip to AC (FRI-SUN) and instead of normal answer (no), i decided to go. had not been there in 4-6 months. DB and jeter, i remembered you were going to meet and was going to stop in, but saw you were scheduled for thursday, one day before my arrival.   stayed at harrahs and did most of my play there. had $65 free play from caesars, played about 1 hour, got lucky splitting up a full house (three 2's) and drawing the 4th along with kicker, on TDB. i have lost plenty there, so walking away with $500 was very small revenge. probably will not see anymore free play from them. overall, lost about $1k for the 3 days. the state of AC gambling? do not go enough anymore to draw any conclusions. in the last year, i have played at AC, N.F., tampa and cherokee. there is one consistency that has always existed, but seems more obvious. the very longggg streaks of nothing. i will repeat, this has always existed, but they appear to last longer and not just for me. i move around a lot, so i get a good read on what is going on around the entire area i play. and, as we all know, some players avoid getting on a machine, that has had a nice payout. as a result, i can see if anyone has won. it is not unusual anymore to be in an area where row after row of machines, has no significant payout. i/m/o, these long winless streaks, makes one even more dependent upon premium hands, not just normal quads. as far as AC in general, it continues to deteriorate, very sad. one may not agree with me, but i have long felt the reason the country in general is not recovering financially as fast as it should at this point in the economic cycle, is because lack of optimism and a general state of despair by many. AC seems to be the same, but on steroids. there is an 'air of hoplessness'. what is the next shoe to drop? i had said before, AC will be the subject of business courses for years to come. just like the great recession, they were both man made failures.    Thanks for sharing your latest AC trip notes1, and I hope that for your next AC excursion, you can provide enough advance warning, and enough of a chance, for some/all of us to get together somewhere in AC!    I need to tell you, you are totally accurate and spot on with your conclusion regarding the general attitude of the average U.S. consumer and the impact it has on economic activity and spending!    This is a point/principle that USED to be emphasized in most reputable  ECONOMICS classrooms in Universities across the country, but as of late it has been de-emphasized  for no good reason!      The link between MINDSET and economic outlook/growth rate is crucial and never ending......you aptly summarized this principle with your "air of hopelessness" comment which again, is SPOT ON.     Throughout history, many recessions and economic downturns can be attributed to simple pessimism, people STOP spending their money because they "believe" (with no sound basis for this belief) that the economy is hurting, or about to crash, and that they should therefore "prepare" by not spending any more money NOW!      It becomes an Ironic case of self fulfilling prophecies, whereby people "believe" something about the economy that is NOT true, yet their actions actually result in CAUSING the exact problem that they believe ALREADY exists with the economy!      Bottom line:  MUCH of the economic "outlook" that exists at any specific point in time is based inside the mindset of the average consumer!This is why I always treat with absolute skepticism and disdain the "grandiose" plans for ensuring economic growth that often originate with politicians from both parties......they all have LITTLE real understanding of what is actually going on, and even less understanding of how to improve the situation (hint:  slip people something in their drinks to make them HAPPY and upbeat and VOILA!)