June 1 thru 8 in AC

[DaBurglar]

I arrived in AC via Bus at 2:30 pm on June 1.....Ballys was where I got off, and of course I utilized the free Bonus coupon the buses give you and received 25 slot dollars.    By 2:50 pm I had hit my first straight up single line 25 cent Royal at Ballys in a LONG LONG time.....I had chosen the infamous & dreaded $50 to 1 tier credit machines to play my bonus , as these games have a bunch of 99% plus games on them;  I chose 9-7-5 Double Bonus, caught four to a royal (Ad  Kd 10D Qd )  and hit the Jack of Diamonds for $1000!     This made all the difference for the rest of the trip, since receiving that fast initial infusion of money allowed me to play a long time before I even touched the money I brought from home.   FYI...about four hands after the Royal, I was dealt four 5s lolFor the remainder of the trip, I managed to stay in a defined range that (with a few brief exceptions) encompassed  -$300   to  +$1700 the entire 8 days!   That is to say, I was always somewhere in the range of UP $1700 to down $300, but MOSTLY on the PLUS/Positive side.After arriving at Ballys and hitting the Royal, I wheeled to Taj & Resorts to play free play I had there and to eat dinner.    Then I went over to Harrahs to check in at around 8pm, and sadly, when I got there, I found that they had somehow put my reservation in wrong and only had me down for one night instead of two.   What's worse, they were not able to "fix" this problem without some very puzzling, annoying inconvenience, so I gave up and booked an extra night at Taj, so I wound up staying at harrahs for just 1 night.     During this time (from 8 pm Wednesday to around Noon on Thursday), I slowly eroded my initial infusion of $1100 from Ballys down to about even.....it was just one of those long arduous, little by little chipping away experiences where I could not hit anything big.....I played Jeter's favorite Quick quads machines and had some initial success, but then it is almost as if they "turned off the faucet" and I could no longer hit ANYTHING.   So, around Noon on Thursday, I was waiting at Harrahs for Jeter to arrive, and I played a little single line 25 cent Ultimate 4 of a Kind (Harrahs has several of these games/machines)...I chose DOuble bonus again and after 15 minutes, I hit four deuces for $100  and 2 Bonus game picks.   My first Bonus pick was a 3 which scored 285 credits (around $71)......my second pick however was the JOKER!!!!  I could not believe it!    First time THAT has ever happened and I have played this game a lot over the last couple years!   The Joker scored 3,996 credits (or $999 exactly......they do that so as to avoid a handpay when some hits four aces, which gives you 3 bonus picks;  by having the Joker at 3996 credits, if the other two picks are ACES for 400 creidts, then the person wins $1,199 !!!       Anyway, I was back UP  over $1,100!Then the rest of Thursday (June 2)  was another slow descent back Down again......I spent the afternoon at Harrahs with Jeter, catching very little and losing a couple hundred, and I then went to my room at the TAJ, where I proceeded to spend the evening playing in their new poker room (no big deal at all, just like the old room used to be) and managed to lose about $100 for a couple hours of cash play.......then I played Video Poker in the TAJ and had my arse handed to me AGAIN.......By the time I woke up the next morning, I was now in the HOLE about 300 BUCKS!!!   (I managed to LOSE around 1000 playing the Taj's decrepit and suspect machines!)To be continued...(it gets better fortunately)  lol.....

[olds442jetaway]

Sounds like a nice trip so far. I will wait for it gets better part. The room reservation fiasco would have bothered me a lot especially if I had a conf number and the dates in writing. Luckily, you were able to make other arrangements, but still....It seems like today there are screw ups in everything to do with the consumer and the worst part is there is virtually no accountability and all you get is an Oh well or something similar. I'm surprised they didn't comp you with dinner or something, but at any rate, the trip sounds like a nice one.

[Tedlark]

I'm glad you had some success; too bad you couldn't come back home with more.

Anyway. So when jeter wrote that you caught 2 royals while playing 5 play .25 denomination, was this erroneous reporting on jeter's part? He is usually a bit more accurate.

[Galeygoo]

I Then I went over to Harrahs to check in at around 8pm, and sadly, when I got there, I found that they had somehow put my reservation in wrong and only had me down for one night instead of two.   What's worse, they were not able to "fix" this problem without some very puzzling, annoying inconvenience, so I gave up and booked an extra night at Taj,To be continued...(it gets better fortunately)  lol.....I'm surprised you gave up, DaB.  Must have been a good reason.....I'll look forward to reading Part 2

[Vman96]

Good start so far. I have picked the Joker on that game before...on videopoker.com... Unfortunately Horseshoe Hammond finally wised up and downgraded the game to their typical crap.

[DaBurglar]

Friday, June 3 was a little boring during the day, and I spent a lot of time wandering around the city (Boardwalk, Marina, Atlantic Avenue) noticing what has and has not changed....if you have followed the news you know how turbulent AC has been in terms of its future and what the government of NJ has been (or has not been) doing.....there's a lot of uncertainty as the state will be voting on whether to open 2 new casinos in North Jersey across from Manhattan, and what impact this will have on AC and elsewhere.   I was surprised at the apparent "progress" being made at the TAJ, as they have implemented a lot of new Promotions and stuff for players (stuff they sorely lacked the past two years), and they opened a brand new Gift shop and store that dwarfs the previous rinky dink shack they had in the lobby all these years....but they still have not fixed the roof(s) or ceilings or all the decrepit exterior on the outside, indications that Mr. Icahn is still waiting to see what happens in November before investing the bulk of the money he promised.  I hope the TAJ stays and does not close.....I played a little more poker during the day and pretty much ran in place.....things stayed quiet until after dinner when I resumed Video Poker Play....Friday Night at resorts & Taj was pretty busy as the summer crowd kicked in, and I noticed that Resorts has re-installed a slew of the video poker machines (all table top old designs) it previously has taken out last year.....makes you wonder, the games themselves are exactly the same;  what were they doing and why did they decide to put them back?   Anyway, I did not have too many HUGE hits (or any long periods of duds either), but I managed to run in place until around 1 AM, when I was getting ready to go to bed.....I was wheeling back to the TAJ from Resorts when, near the ramp out to the Boardwalk there were two Super Draw Poker (3/5/10) machines that I had managed to avoid until now.....Harrahs has a lot of these games and Jeter had told me he has seen more than a few people really kick arse on them.    The exaggerated quad payouts are definitely enticing, but that is Harrahs and it's on again, Off again SERVER system....this is RESORTS and its notoriously Anti-Video Poker owners Mohegan Sun!Still, I had experienced a uneventful day, and I decided to try one more session before bedtime.....I plopped almost 1,000 bucks into one of the Super machines and did my best.....and it was not long before i was really disappointed I had done so......I was playing 10 handed Bonus Poker, and I was getting my arse handed to me.....I hit NOTHING, no quads, and very few of anything else.  One near miss though, I had four to a royal (clubs) on one ten handed draw, and bricked.......It brought back memories of the last time I tried a major session at Resorts in March of this year, when I lost over 500 bucks .....Resorts also does not reward much for Video Poker play (as is the case with all mohegan properties)....I was down nearly 700 bucks and ready to just give up and try to get to sleep after ruining my night.....I hit deal one last time and again, get four to a royal, this time diamonds.   I looked at my watch, it was 2 am, so I said, Last hand to myself and hit deal.   First hand of ten was the jack of diamonds (the same card I needed for my opening day royal at Ballys), then I bricked the next 6 hands but got another Jack of diamonds for amother royal and the first handpay of 2016, 2000 bucks.    I was neither ecstatic nor subdued, I was just NUMB.   remember, playing the SUPER games, you are thinking "QUADS QUADS QUADS".....I think I was still in auto sulk over not getting any when the royals came.   Anyhow, when I woke up the next day and saw the w-2 sitting on the desk, I felt happier and about it......so now I was back UP around 1200 or so.Saturday, June 4 was strictly POKER, as I played at Ballys Poker room pretty much all day.   Once again I somehow just ran in place, playing cash games until dinner, unable to make a move but also avoiding any real bear traps.  I finished down maybe 80 bucks for 5 hours of play.    After Dinner I played in Ballys really good Saturday Night Tournament, a Guaranteed 5000 dollar prize pool for ONLY 65 bucks!   It really is the best value in terms of tournament poker in AC, and I have enjoyed great success at it, as I have cashed 3 times out of 4 this past year in it, including winning it outright once for a $2500 payout.    The competition is tough now that the word is out, but it is not as tough as Borgata so for any amateur players out there its a great opportunity.    But Saturday night was NOT my night for tourney success.....I honestly played perhaps the WORST tourney I have played in many years......I do not know why, but I was just out of sync.    I was done by 10:30 pm Saturday Night!  ughThe good thing is I was then able to wheel around and see what else was happening on a Saturday Night in AC, and I was glad to see as much activity and action as I did....Ballys was ROCKING, especially the Wild West Party area where a lot of new restaurants and additions have materialized for this summer season.   Beer Pong is bigger than ever and the whole place just smells of BEER on Saturday Nights!   Reminds you of College.....I did not play anything much, I just hung out and talked with some friends & aquaintances at Ballys and Caesars, and marveled at the number of people there.   I hope it stays that way.....I crashed at 4 am back at the Taj.Sunday was a nice day, I relaxed, read the sunday paper by the ocean, one of my favorite things to do.   I played a little more Video Poker at the Taj, trying their OLD vintage 1996 Ballys games (the ones with Triple Trouble, and GOld Mine Bonus poker  etc.)   I won maybe another 50 bucks or so, but again I was glad to see actual CROWDS in the TAJ due to all their new Promotions.    Taj has implemented a lot of the same promos that Tropicana used when Icahn took over that place back in 2010/2011, except the Taj has one tiny little problem that will need to be addressed:  Their Kiosk COmputer system, like everything else there, has seen its best days and is not up to handling a HUGE influx of people.   LONG LONG LINES all around the property ensued and if any of you plan on visiting the TAJ, take this into consideration because they are a factor in your TIME needed to use the kiosks as well as GET AROUND the property since these lines clogged all the major thruways.Around Dinner time on Sunday, I ate at Resorts which has ALL my favorite restaurants, and I decided to play a game that has received MIXED reactions, the "HOT ROLL" Dice Video Poker game, where the dice act as multipliers for your video poker hands (anywhere from 2-12 times, depending on the roll of the two crap dice.)  The frequency of the multiplier seems to happen FAR MORE often than the other infamous multiplier games (STP, GoodTIMES PAY, Ultimate X  etc), and not only does it happen more, but it actually CONNECTS with winning hands seemingly more too (by that I mean when you catch at least Jacks or better, instead of having multipliers show up ONLY when you get NOTHING.)     I saw several people really kick it with these three games that Resorts has HIDDEN in the corner by the handicap ramp to the Boardwalk.....the denominations are 5 cents, 25 cents and a dollar, and you can play 3/5/10 hands.I tried my dinner-time luck at 5 cent, 5 handed BP, DDB and TDB.....and I was getting a lot of multipliers!   With this game, you can get them on both the Deal and Draw......I was doing well, up around 50 bucks, when, ONCE AGAIN, I was dealt four to a royal, DIAMONDS, needing the Jack of Diamonds!!!!    However, the previous four hands, I had gotten multipliers ranging from 5 to 11....this time, NONE on the deal.....so I hit draw PRAYING for a multiplier AND a connection with one of the royals.     Instead I caught, once again, TWO jacks of diamonds but NO multiplier on the draw, for a 400 dollar win.    It was nice, but if you had seen the way it was going you would have thought a multiplier was on its way, and as luck would have it, the NEXT two hands I played also had multipliers of 5 and 7!!!!    Even a Multiplier of a measly 3 would have given me a handpay!     This was one instance of a bittersweet Royal experience......anyhow, I managed to EXCEED the sum total of royals I received  ALL LAST YEAR in AC (4)  with the (5)  I caught in three days last week (albeit two of the catches were on multihand games)......go figure.Monday I met up with jeter again at Harrahs to share in his joy over the 100X multiplier!   I was very happy for him, as I myself had never seen such a thing until then.....we had a good time playing at Harrahs, where I managed to break even on my own play while he ran up his score of Tier and reward credits!!!   ALl I know is there is definitely some type of On/OFF switch with the games on these servers at Harrahs, Ballys and Caesars,   One thing I had observed at Caesars early Sunday morning during my early morning roll down the Boardwalk, is that, amazingly, ALL 5 of the progressive games in Caesars small Video Poker area were set at or near the reset value of 1000 (or 2000 in the case of the Double Joker progressive)...meaning somehow, during the previous Saturday Night, ALL five progressives managed to get hit around the same time!?!?!?!?By Tuesday, my Mom had arrived to enjoy a couple days with me in AC, we were playing at Ballys when I had my final good, notable hit of the trip......I was not playing very serious, just keeping an eye on my Mom since she knows very little about video poker and is at the age where she is not about to learn much more......I was just horsing around, when i decided to put my money into the SAME machine I hit the Royal on day one.....again, these are the GOOD paytable/Lousy comp 50 to 1 machines.    One selection Ballys has (and Harrahs too) is DOUBLE DOUBLE ACES & FACES (DDAF), while they do NOT have DOUBLE DOUBLE BONUS POKER....go figure.   Anyhow, with DDAF you get 2000 for quad aces with a face card (and likewise, if you get four face cards with a face or ace kicker you get the 800).....well, I drew against a pair of aces, without even paying attention as I was yacking with my mom, and I caught two more aces with a King.   Not a hand you see too often unless you play this uncommon game a lot, I guess.Altogether I finished well up for the trip, and it turned out to be one of my top five all time AC trips.   Has it changed anything I see, know or believe about AC?  nope, not at all.....in fact I am now more convinced than ever of all the conclusions I have drawn and things I believe.   But it gives me hope that I can still enjoy my time and trips to the ocean and AC and that all is not lost or hopeless for the city of AC.  

[Galeygoo]

Glad you finally had some good luck along with enjoying your favorite spots, DaB. Thanks for taking us along on your trip.  Fun reading.....

[notes1]

really glad you finally had some good luck at the machines. you were overdue.

also impressed by how much you move around in your chair. is your chair motorized or do you have arms the size of my legs?

[jetermacaw]

DB is pure arm strength, no other motor!

[notes1]

DB is pure arm strength, no other motor!

that is way more impressive than someone who says they beat the casinos at VP.

b/t/w jeter, how is that military son of yours doing after surgery, good I hope?