Another Trip Report

[onemoretry]

We are currently on the second leg of a lengthy Las Vegas - Laughlin trip. We arrived in Las Vegas last Friday evening, and started our trip with four nights at the M. On Tuesday, we moved to the Tropicana, a new venue for us. Tomorrow, we will pick up a rental car and drive to Laughlin for a seven night stay at Harrah's.

Our play at the M was mostly on the triple line 25c progressive, with a bit of single line ACE$ bonus poker thrown in. On the progressive, we each played around 30000 hands. My wife had 5 or 6 sets of deuces (3 at once on a dealt deuce hand), while I had 4. I also chipped in with a royal of about $1075.

Overall, our play there resulted in a $900 loss for my wife, and a $50 win for me. Then, we took a combined $700 in cashback to significantly improve our bottom line there. The 700 figure is a bit misleading, as we did not earn all that this trip. There was about $140 each on our accounts from the previous trip because of the problems they were having with their updated players' club system. Actually, I doubted we would get that credit, and was pleasantly surprised to see it on our account when we arrived there.

So far, I have done extremely well at the Tropicana. We are playing multiline 5c or 10c 8/5 bonus poker here. I have had two 10c royals, and one 5c one. In addition, there has been a dealt quad on 20 line 10c, and the best one of all, so far, a dealt straight flush on 50 line 5c. I am ahead about $1200 here.

Unfortunately, my wife is playing on the other side of the results curve, and is down about that same amount. Oh well - that puts us about even, which is not too bad. We have each played a total of around 60,000 hands here to date.

[FAA]

So far so good, OMT. A bit depressing to have eleven quality M hands and still leave about even. That's VP for you. 

[DaBurglar]

good report, thanks for sharing.     ANd in my book, breaking even is a total WIN no matter where you are, but ESPECIALLY in Vegas given its size, scope and all the it offers these days!   The longer you can hang out there and have it cost you not much at all, the better you are doing!

[DAAnMAAn]

In this town (Vegas), even is a win. Sounds like a good trip. May the odds be ever in your favor.

[case]

I just got home from a week in Vegas and did quite well.

I have played a lot in Laughlin over the years and it is about 3 degrees warmer than Vegas and Vegas hit 110 this past week. You will find the best VP at the Aquarius.

I have a question. You mentioned playing 5 and 10 cent multi line 8-5 Bonus poker at Tropicana. There has to be a catch as this would be close to full pay at nickels and dimes. Is this not real Bonus poker that only pays even for 2 pair instead of 2-1? I have never heard of full pay bonus poker on the strip at those low stakes for a long time. Please tell me it is true!

[alpax]

Much thanks for providing this report OMT. I assume you will take the tough streaks in stride as a well versed video poker player. I am interested in hearing more about the Tropicana ever since the Penn National Gaming acquisition, there is not much details about the casino specific benefits on the Marquee Rewards website. The M Resort offers good cashback and treats Video Poker as $1 coin in per point, with 333 points being $1 cash back.

I just got home from a week in Vegas and did quite well.

I have played a lot in Laughlin over the years and it is about 3 degrees warmer than Vegas and Vegas hit 110 this past week. You will find the best VP at the Aquarius.

I have a question. You mentioned playing 5 and 10 cent multi line 8-5 Bonus poker at Tropicana. There has to be a catch as this would be close to full pay at nickels and dimes. Is this not real Bonus poker that only pays even for 2 pair instead of 2-1? I have never heard of full pay bonus poker on the strip at those low stakes for a long time. Please tell me it is true!

Good to hear about your successful trip. Laughlin is located more towards the desert parts of Arizona, so it is normally warmer than Vegas despite the Colorado River nearby. The last time I remember, the nights were cool due to the breeze from the river. Either way 110 degree weather is not pleasant to be in as we just entered the summer season.

As regards to your question, I am sure the Tropicana has been well scouted by the local players and they've reported on vpFREE that there is a 50-line nickel and 100-line dime for full pay 8/5 Bonus Poker. It should be 2 for 1 on 2 pairs, or else even money on 2 pairs will reduce the payout by 11%!

I am not sure about minimum bet amount requirements on the multi play machines, there is no indication on vpFREE.

[Vman96]

Yeah it should be the 50/100 plays at Trop with no min bet requirement. On 25/50/100 plays, you can max bet any number of lines unless there is a min bet requirement.

Cosmopolitan has the best penny game available with "Airport Deuces" (98.91%) on their 100-plays. One unit requires a min bet of $1, but the other doesn't require anything!

Good luck in Laughlin!

[onemoretry]

Continuing on with the trip report, it is now Saturday afternoon, and we are at Harrah's Laughlin, having driven here from Las Vegas yesterday.

My personal results at the machines have, for the most part, continued to be somewhat spectacular. Thursday morning started out as if it was going to be a real bust. I had $400 in the machine (5c 50 line bonus poker) and was more or less just plodding along. Then, I was dealt KQJT suited. The draw produced two royals, two straight flushes, and a few other paying hands totalling 8830 credits. Ultimately, I cashed out at 10000 credits for a $100 win. My wife finally hit a royal as well, an improbable one drawing to a single king. She, nevertheless, was still down a bit for the session.

We took the monorail to the Westgate to cash in a winning sports bet for a friend. While there, we played about two hours of 25c NSU deuces. She was down $200, while I managed a $250 win, courtesy of hitting the four deuces.

Back at the Tropicana that night, I had yet another great session. Playing 20 line 10c bonus poker, on a draw to three to the royal, I hit two royals in 20 hands. Later in the session, I hit another one, again on a two card draw. I was plus $1000 for the session.

Overall, at the Tropicana, I came out ahead by $2500. Unfortunately, my wife's struggles continued, and she was down around $1700. Still, we came out ahead. Ironically, my initial session of play there was truly awful, while she more or less broke even. I dropped $100 plus the $75 free play offer that came with the trip, in less than $1000 of play.

Our total play there was about $41000-42000. It works out to about 39000 hands of 10c, and 93000 of 5c.

On the way to Laughlin, we stopped at South Point to cash in another winning sports bet ticket for the same friend (the Pittsburgh Penguins were good to him). We played some 25c NSU there, with my wife winning $200 (she caught the four deuces), while I broke even. We also played a really fun game, quick quads with wheel poker. If you can stomach the swings, it's a blast. I won $926, due to many, many visits to the wheel.

Now, we are at Harrah's. The winning bubble burst for me this morning on my first session, with a $500 loss on 5c 50 line deuces wild bonus in about half an hour of play. My wife was up $100 for the session.

Then, we played some triple line 25c deuces wild (the 98.91% kind). She caught the four deuces early in the session, but burned right through the 1000 credits to finish even for the session. Incredibly, I caught yet another royal and finished up $900.

Folks on royal droughts must be cringing over all these royals I am reporting. All I can say is that for most of my video poker career, I have been somewhat "under-royalled" Maybe it's catch up time?

[onemoretry]

So far so good, OMT. A bit depressing to have eleven quality M hands and still leave about even. That's VP for you. 


That is all so true. If you don't catch some of those premium hands, you are a loser for sure

[notes1]

sounds like you are overall net positive, which is a wonderful result, especially when one of the team members is struggling.

hope it continues, enjoy the reports.