Beau Rivage Christmas VP Vacation

[FloridaPhil]

We just returned from our Mississippi VP Christmas trip. The traffic on I75 was brutal. Seems likes everyone is coming to Florida for Christmas this year. Miles of license plates from all over the country. Gas is the cheapest we have seen in years. It was $1.89 a gallon In Biloxi and $2.09 at home. That's like 18-21 cents a gallon in 1965 money. I wonder when gas stations will be bringing back windshield washing and free ice tea glasses?

Mississippi video poker odds are continuing to drop. What used to be poor is now normal. For a long time 97.579% "fooler deuces" was as bad as it got in quarters. Now, except for the bar at the IP, it's the best you can find. Two new quarter pay schedules have been added which are a full point worse. Interestingly enough, my wife discovered a new VP game we had never seen before. This game is called "Royal Deal" poker. It's the same 97.579% game but adds 10,000 points for a dealt royal flush. I'm not sure how much this adds to the return, but it does add to the excitement and kept us on this game the whole time.

One thing is troubling. Video poker is slowly but surely disappearing from casinos. Back 10 years ago, they had rows of these machines. Now you have to walk all over the casino or ask an attendant where they are. It doesn't bode well for the game and it's future is far from secure.

First the positives. Our three nights comped room sells for $279 a night if you could have got them. We booked this trip three months early and the hotel was packed. We got $75 in free play and earned about $50 in credit from our play. Drinks were free and we received two comped tickets to the Christmas ice skating show which were probably worth about $30 a piece. We ate in the Cafe and the Roasted Bean Coffee Shop for free. Adding all this up, we were about $1,000 in the black when we walking in the door.

I kept track of our play and together we played at least 25,000 hands at $1.25 a hand or $30,000 in coin-in. We hardly touched the slots. Neither of us got a royal flush. We hit eight sets of quad deuces at $250 each. I hit seven of the quad deuces and broke even. My wife lost about $600.

This trip was our best Biloxi trip in recent years. We didn't drive all over Mississippi searching for better odds. We weren't depressed because they didn't have 100% games to play. We didn't move up to dollars to gain better odds because that would have doubled our losses. No panicking and no big risks were taken. What we did was play the best quarter game they had to the best of our ability and take advantage of the comps they gave us. We both had a great time.

If we had hit just one royal between us, we would have made money. If we had been dealt a royal flush, we would have paid for two trips. You are never going to get rich playing quarter VP. Playing quarter VP can be a good way to enjoy a great resort vacation for free or at a discount.

[FAA]

An A- trip. No great win to crow about and bank. But just a nominal loss. Ton of play and free room, board and transportation.

[FloridaPhil]

An A- trip. No great win to crow about and bank. But just a nominal loss. Ton of play and free room, board and transportation.

That's the norm for us. We play a lot of VP, we lose some and we win some. At the end of the year, it's pretty cheap entertainment. VP is a good deal as long as it lasts. I'm not so sure it will. I would hate to run $30,000 dollars through the Beau RIvage slots. Makes me pucker even thinking about it.

[pokerpokerpoker]

Royal Deal adds .185% to the base game and because it a "free" add-on always select it if available.

The same machines might also offer " Dice Fever" and "Atomic Fever". These features cost 1 credit. With DF, if you get a five of a kind on the dice you earn 5 free games with a 3X multiplier. This feature adds .34% to the game. But, the odds of the 5 of a kind on the dice are only 1.26% - so you can go a long time between bonus rounds.

Atomic Fever is similar to DF and awards 5 free games at a 2X multiplier. It is a little easier to hit than Dice Fever and adds .47% return to the game.

If I am playing quarters or halves I add the "fevers", for $1 and $2 play I just add the Royal Deal.

Glad you had a good time in Biloxi.

[FloridaPhil]

Thanks. We've never seen Royal Deal Poker before. The Beau has some new IGT machines. My wife was playing one when she noticed the 10,000 coin payout for a dealt royal. At first we couldn't figure out how she got into it. One of the slot techs showed us. Before we got there someone was dealt a royal flush that didn't know about the game. There was no difference between the odds. A $1,500 loss for not knowing...

[Waiting4RF]

$279 per night is an inflated holiday price. Would you have paid that much to stay there? Joe Public can stay there for $69 or $79 in January. You did get lucky with the quad deuces. It is easy and expected to lose on 97% machines.

[olds442jetaway]

Great time phil for cheap as well. Glad u guys had a good time

[FloridaPhil]

$279 per night is an inflated holiday price. Would you have paid that much to stay there? Joe Public can stay there for $69 or $79 in January. You did get lucky with the quad deuces. It is easy and expected to lose on 97% machines.

$279 is the everyday Monday thru Thursday price for a basic room at the Beau Rivage. We stayed free in an ocean front room with additional upgrades. This was also three nights at Christmas with all the Holiday decorations and festivities money could buy. Joe Public couldn't have bought our room that night for $279. There was a two hour wait at the Christmas buffet, which we didn't stand in.

Was I going to take my wife on vacation Christmas week anyway? Yes. Would I pay $279 a night so I could play 100% VP games. No way. Would I pay $279 a night at Disney World or on Miami Beach with no chance of ever winning any money? Ditto. $279 a night won't buy you much at Disney. The parking alone in Miami is $25 a night.

Being consumed with video poker odds have cost us so much pain and anguish over the years it's pitiful. You start thinking you can't enjoy the game unless you have them. This isn't at all true. You spend all your time searching for these games. When you can't find them, you become disheartened. When you do, you discover you don't win any more often.

Positive VP odds do not guarantee long term wins. Playing better games lets you play longer with your money, that's all. You are risking whatever happens next. No matter how you twist it around, you are still gambling.

When experts tell people not to play negative VP games or tell them they are unintelligent for doing so, they are doing those players a disservice. They are degrading the experience of VP to where all players think about is winning money. When they don't, they lose much of the fun of playing the game. For us, that's not what playing VP is about.

Here's what I know for sure. We had a great three day vacation at one of the nicest resorts on the Gulf Coast. We got to play VP solid for three days straight. We enjoyed the water, the decorations, the hotel, the games, the food, the drinks and their hospitality. The entire trip cost us $600 plus some gas at less than $2 a gallon. If that isn't a great deal, I don't know what is.

[FAA]

Your $200 day is two minutes at a HL room anywhere nationwide. My day trips are less stressful when I free play and go away. Health benefits to long walks seeing interesting nooks and crannies.

[OTABILL]

Glad you had a great vacation. Forget about the posted cost of the room. It is in essence irrelevant. The bottom line is your cost was $200 a day plus I presume other incidental expenses for the two of you. That is what recreational VP is all about, having a wonderful time at an acceptable cost.