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Well, this is a poor start. Hit up the St. Louis IKEA because we never been there. Eat a cheap late lunch there too. Not bad for the price I guess.
Pic outside from the cafe:
One of the many items with their random Swedish words. This means "good morning".
After IKEA, I talk her into going to Lumiere Place because she's not a member and new members get $30 of free play if you earn 25 points ($125/$250 slot/VP coin-in). She really didn't want to go, but she relented. We get cutoff by an idiot, and with the rush hour traffic building, I was questioning the move. But we finally get there and get her signed up. We start to work on the 25 points. I was quite disappointed as their VP got slashed pretty bad. They used to have 9/6 DDB for nickels! Now only dollars is 9/6.
Since I hadn't been there since Dec. 2014, I figured I should have a beer to add to my Untappd account.
I chose Charleville Hoptimistic IPA (6.5%, 4 sips)
I play nickel 6/5 Super Aces (97.78%) at the bar as it's the best choice left. I missed the fourth Ace from AAA not once, not twice, but thrice in 30 minutes! grrr I talked to the bartender a bit, and he says his tips have suffered since they downgraded the paytables. People do notice paytables!!!
Fortunately my g/f seems to be doing better.
$30 win (120X bet)
85X bet bonus round
Time is ticking away though, and I want to get done with this point requirement. So I chose the best VP choice at the "quarter level". Well that's actually 6/5 Bonus 3-play Ultimate X for nickels. Game was not kind though. No pics. We finish the coin-in, I'm down $25, g/f is up $10.
We play the free play on more VP, first at nickel Super Aces (hold our own), then try Ultimate X again. Another mistake. $19.70 of $30 recovered. G/f was nice enough to let me keep it.
Now it's almost 7, and we wanted to go to River City for dinner and to use some of our comps there. I like to use my Pinnacle comps at River City because you can use them on beer and they count double like the rest of the food! Yes, Missouri sucks and you have to pay for alcohol. :( We get a Philly Cheese Steak and I go with one of my stand bys to start:
North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout (9%; 4 sips)
I later notice an expensive beer that I haven't tried yet (typically $13 a four pack in beer stores) is there too. So I ask the bartender, "how much?" He says, "$10.75 I think, but it's a 22 oz. bottle." Hmmm...so that's about beer store retail price with the double comp factor. I ask him if I can take some of it in the casino (wasn't positive on the rule). He says, "Yes." Okay sold. It was really $12 ($6 comps) though, bah.
Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA (9.5%; 4.5 sips)
Great, balanced Double IPA. I have loved almost everything I've tried from Firestone Walker, so it least it was worth it!
Now head to the casino with beer in hand. They card my g/f at the front, and I ask if they want to see my ID too. He says, "Yes." I say, "I would have to be pretty ballsy to bring a beer into the casino underage." He didn't think it was as funny as I did though. I'll probably get carded at that place and Ameristar St. Charles beyond 40 (36 now...you might have guessed that from the title
).Start to play a bunch of random stuff, because nothing pays that great except at dollars.
Not hitting too much, get a little traction on Big Times Draw Poker (96.73%) with some multiplier hits.
Try 8/5 Boner Deluxe with Hot Roll (97.40%) since it's new to River City for 30 nickels a whack. I didn't take a pic, but I got 8X trips on two lines to help me hit and run a breakeven session.
The last few days before going on this excursion, I thought I would take a $20 stab in the highest paying VP same left in Missouri to my knowledge. 50 (SF)/8/5 Super Aces (99.84%) for dollars. Go to the non-smoking section, and begin to play it and praying for a quad or better at $5 a hand, way over what I usually play. Game wasn't doing much, but gave me a lot of pushes. Being down $10, I just really wasn't feeling it and quit early.
Now I'm out of beer and wanted another one. Go to Bar Central where I see nickel 6/5 Bonus with STP (97.14%) available. Well, I wait about 10 minutes, and no one even asks if I want anything. :- So I hightail it to Judy's lounge, and I get asked within seconds...lol
Ranger IPA (6.5%; 4 sips)
Play a little 6/5 Super Aces for nickels, but nothing. Guy next to me asks me to watch his machine. I said sure. Well g/f appears while he was gone, apparently she sent a couple of pics, but my phone service sucks in that place.
Another $30 spin!
She finished that bonus round with a 144X win
So he returned, and we wished each other luck as I tell my g/f about the nickel STP games at the other bar. They were hard to get on tonight because most of the STP machines were shut down that night. But now another couple was on them. So we go back onto the floor and just play games separately.
Now I've played VP on and off since I turned 21. Now I had some big breaks at times, from 2006-2010 for instance, I barely played a hand. It was almost always live poker when I could make it to a casino. In 2005, my ex-fiancee and I were playing VP together at Harrah's (now Hollywood) STL and she never played unless she played with me. She gets three to a Royal with four to a flush in spades. She asks me what to do. I correctly say, "3 to a Royal." Bam, she hits it for a grand! I'm still looking for a Spade royal btw...
Fast forward to Feb. 2011, I am at Blue Chip in Indiana, finally break the streak with a penny royal for $40 (yay). Then in 2012, I get a dealt royal at Flamingo, and another in Tunica, but still in tiny denominations. Now my current g/f has played VP since about 2012 (more sporadically than me though). Well in January 2015, she hits her first Royal ever. Where? At the same place my ex did, Hollywood St. Louis.
I finally break a 35-month streak without a Royal at the Linq in Vegas in August with another penny royal, and hit a "big" $800 Royal at Gold Strike Tunica within a month, now that was exciting! But still none in the state where I lived most of my life. G/f rubs it in the last time we went to River City in November 2015. Here's her 2nd Royal, both in Missouri.
I get dealt a ho-hum AK of diamonds and think to myself, "Meh." But then...
WTF?!?!?! It fills in!!! Finally a Royal in Missouri, and finally a Royal when drawing 3!! Didn't see that coming. During the count up, I kept muttering "Wow". I couldn't believe it. The lady next to me was nice enough to say "Congratulations.", but she probably was cursing me under her breath because I just sat down.
The g/f comes by because I apparently wasn't quiet enough...lolA great finish to fun day.
And accidentally, the g/f forgot to cash out ~$16 of tickets there. I guess that means that we'll just have to go back! But considering we have hit two Royals on our last two trips to River City, I can't say I mind.
And I was particularly surprised I got the Royal because I also hit this in last week's contest.
