Gold Exclusive
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That title is an inside joke of the repetitive 30-second advertising they play as you walk toward the casino entrance, btw.
Once again, my girlfriend M and I made the trek down to Tunica. This time, however, we wouldn't be totally by ourselves. For almost a year, I've been chatting with jpw711 from Vegas Message Board and been trying to meet up with him in either Tunica or Vegas. But it seems like every time we were in Tunica, he was in Vegas and vice-versa. D'Oh! Well, this weekend, we finally broke that pattern, and it worked out pretty well for all involved as all four of us won!!!
To also sweeten the offer to get us to come down to Tunica to meet him and his wife A, he was willing to cover our rooms for Saturday and Sunday night through his wonderful host. Thanks again so much for that, jpw, as our usual MO for a Saturday night is the Robinsonville Quality Inn. The Gold Strike beds are definitely much nicer!
The drive was pretty uneventful as usual. A lot of the drive was cursing at the radio since Mizzou almost choked vs. Connecticut. We make pretty good time by our standards and get to Gold Strike at about 5:30 like I shot for. Jpw had seen pics of M and I, so he recognized us at the elevator when we were going up to check-in! So we say some quick hellos and we planned to reconvene in the high limit room once we dropped our things off.
Jpw and A to that point had been doing quite well themselves and were up over four digits between them. Jpw also had an extra ticket to “Hall and Oates†Friday night. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it in time. I appreciate the offer though!
Hits from Friday where they ended up over $2k.
A's biggest hit for $1500!
Saturday was a bit rougher on jpw, but these two hits kept him going:
And $1k on the first spin with “DaVinci Diamondsâ€!
Get back to the high limit room, and see jpw at a “Red, White, and Blue†dollar slot. Once again say hello, have a bit of a chat, and says we should try to find A, which we eventually do. We decide we wouldn't eat a full meal right away and play a little bit. A decision I later would be very thankful for. But we were a little hungry, so jpw and A take us into the high limit lounge for a beer and a couple of apps. We had some bacon-wrapped chicken breast with jalapeno cheese and some steak kabobs. Both very good, particularly the steak.
Eat our apps in high limit while I chat mostly with jpw and M with A. Off the bat I can tell they are very friendly and outgoing people, which is typically has been my experience with meeting VMB members! After we finished our apps, jpw decides he wants to play some dollar games at the other end of the casino, so we follow him. When we get there, I noticed the VP alcove changed massively! Gone are the old Game Kings and have been replaced with many Ultimate X and STP games, Hot Roll Poker, Barnyard Poker and the like! So now I was curious as hell, and break away from jpw for a bit. Find out that STP/Double STP and Ultimate X was available as cheap as 2c, haven't seen that in years! That's particularly important to us so we can play even more lines and not break the bank!
I found an Ultimate X I wanted to play for a bit and glad I found it because I hit this. 3 years and 1 day since my last Royal in Tunica for $80... Get dealt 4 to a Royal, a draw I have bricked numerous times for the last 4.5 years. Finally, I convert one.
But much better than my last Tunica Royal... an $800 hit, biggest machine win to date! Within 20 minutes of a 3-night gambling trip, I knew I was booking a win! What a feeling! My biggest opening day win in Tunica first $300+ win since my first VMB TR on Columbus Day 2013! Jpw also came over while I still had the Royal up on the screen and gave me a heartfelt congratulations.
Trying not to be outdone though, jpw hit this at nearly the same time!
Hold on to the cashout ticket for awhile, and eventually find M in the VP section. Show her the ticket. Seeing the shock on her face was priceless. Eventually get back with jpw, watch him play some multi-line dollar reels. See a waitress come by and ordered a Bud. Since I ordered a drink, felt like I should play a little. So I play a 5-line dollar at one line a few times, nada on the center. Then I say “what the heck†and bet $5. Nope. But I think that is now my largest slot bet ever.
Now we were getting a bit more hungry, but unfortunately, A wasn't feeling so good. So the three of us decide on Buffet Americana because the steakhouse was swamped. But the buffet would have taken long too without his line cutter. Line looked to be about an hour! Good news about a busy buffet, the food tastes fresher! And overall, it was pretty good. Also at dinner, they also offer complimentary beer and wine. And one of the beers they do offer was a local, reminded me a lot like a Budweiser though. :(
Ghost River Golden Ale (5.5%; 3.5 sips)
Get done with the buffet, and then offer jpw a small token of appreciation that I'm known for from the forum. Good beer! One bottle in particular he requested, James Boag Premium Lager from Tasmania.
(5%; 3 sips...sorry buddy I need my hops!)
Also he took a Schafly Pumpkin Ale because it's the best pumpkin beer I ever had (8%; 4.25 sips). And rated #1 from this survey where the pic below comes from: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/list ... s.html?p=3
He then goes off to check on A, but says he'll hopefully be back down later. I go back down to continue drinking and gambling with M. We get into a bit of a gambling drought. I try some games in the non-smoking upstairs for a bit, but get nowhere. Some of the biggest winners looked to be the group of 20-somethings having drinks and betting video BJ one quarter at a time. Jpw returned and informed us that he and A were going to stick around for another day! We try our luck at various slots and jpw held his own with Mr. Cashman. I try a Hot Roll Slot and eventually got a dice bonus for a few bucks, but nothing big. M can't hit a side of a barn. Jpw also was kind enough to toss some points on our cards because we each had a $10 slot play offer. Unfortunately he didn't win on our card either. But at least it wasn't a big loss on $1 WOF. He got a couple of wheel spins, but only $30 and $50. :(
Now jpw was going to go up for the night and save some playing for tomorrow. M was running ragged too. M and I played a bit of the 2 cent STP (8/5 DDB and 6/5 Bonus) (97.06% and 97.14%) to pass the time slash slow her losses, but it only lasted for so long. She's down $45 (yes, I know that's small, but that's big for her) and is tired of playing. But being the great g/f she is, I'm left to my own devices, but takes my huge ticket for "safekeeping". And that device is to head to a bartop because service on the floor sucks at Gold Strike except when jpw is playing in high limit. The main bar is swamped because the Mississippi/Alabama game is on. Fortunately I was able to squeeze in at the bar near the lobby instead. It was a good time to watch the last quarter of that great “Ole' Miss†proformance. “Hotty Toddy!â€
Also I knew it would be a good time when I was able to hit this 3-lining nickel Spin Poker at 8/5 DDB (96.79%):
And 2 straight flushes in a day! I liked the Royal Straight Flush much better though!
A few “garden variety†quads:
And could I get two “Royals Flush†in a day??? I wish...
The other major story of the evening. A guy at a bartop a couple down from mine has to leave it for awhile to take his very drunk wife upstairs as they were celebrating their anniversary. He tells the bartender he is coming back and leaves the machine. One problem, he apparently left ~$390 in it and failed to cash out. On a busy Saturday night, the bartender missed the amount of money in there, and eventually someone else noticed and cashed out.
When he got back and realized what happened, he actually took it pretty well. I would have been furious at myself. He talks to the bartender and the poor guy thinks nothing can be done, but the bartender and I both told him that security might be able to do something. That “something†is to void the voucher if it hadn't been cashed yet as it was shown on video to be his credit. After review, he was handpaid his $390! So I'm glad his anniversary didn't take that nasty of a turn.
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Day 2: Another Generous Offer and M's Revenge on the Machines
Wake up and slowly get going for the day. Doing our typical trip to Southaven to eat and shop. Nothing too exciting with the food, Chili's, good food, meh service. Then we shop a bit, and M finds tons of decent stuff at JcPenney in the men's department on ~90% clearance and buys several things for me, her dad, and her friend Jason as future “presentsâ€. I'll ~forget mine by December probably...lol She spent ~$50 and saved about $450 off retail. Things like this make her happy and helped detract from her relatively large loss last night. Jpw messages me and says he and A are shopping in town too. I ask if I should "save him" in response...haha Unfortunately what actually stopped his excursion is A's knee gets a “popâ€. :(
Gas in Southaven is cheap yo
We get back to the Strike around 5, and decide a little pool time is in order. So we go down to the pool, and in typical Gold Strike fashion, the hot tub is a little too hot, and the pool is a little too cold. But M said the pool was less cold than usual, and I was a bit tempted to go in. Until...a child vomits in the pool. Yuck. So the pool gets evacuated and closed. The maintenance guy lets us go in the hot tub for a bit. At this point, we ask him why the hot tub is so hot. He said MS law requires a 102F minimum. Well, if that is the case, then Hollywood Casino is probably breaking the law. It's probably no more than 100F there.
So after all the hot tub we could stand, we try to see if jpw is down on the floor before we make dinner plans. We find him right when he hits an $80 bonus on a machine, but he says he hasn't done too well so far. He also already ate, so we were going to default to our original plan, the Fitz snack bar for a Philly Cheesesteak. Get to Fitz, walk by security. I get asked for my age, I say 35. Then she does NOT bother to check my ID; what am I going to do? Tell her I'm under 21? lol M goes to order while I play for my drinks. NOW the bartender looks at me and asks for ID. I tell him the previous story and ask how old he thinks I am. He doesn't know what to say and eventually says “I dunno, 22?†Give him my ID and he's pretty shocked. Unfortunately those drinks weren't cheap as I lose $17.50 at 9/5 DDB (97.87%+prog.).
Get our food and the fries are way underdone. Have to get new ones. Other than that though, it was pretty good. Then we did our traditional “VP Challengeâ€, but in recent times we modified the game to max nickels DDB for $5 since she hit Aces with a kicker on JoB for a single nickel during it once. :( I seem to win these the most, but not this time. M wins with kings!
I play a quick game of “Texas Tea†and win two large dividends for 15X bet each. But after that we wanted to get back to Gold Strike. Jpw made a few hits while we were away, a $370 bonus in a $5 slot and this one for $206.
He also messages me that he had 98 scratchoffs for the Gold Strike promo running the past two months. Each scratchoff offers one of many things. Things like freeplay, food, gift shop credit, free nights, etc. Well, jpw tells us to get back to Gold Strike and meet him in the lobby. He gives us a pile of these scratchoffs, pretty much any that he didn't have a good use for. Mostly food ($250 when we actually counted it), but also 2 scratchoffs that offer free nights, even on the weekends. THANK YOU!!! And these don't expire until around Christmas, so pretty much forcing us to come back! Not that we mind making another trip, and hopefully we can coordinate to meet up again!
Then we go with him to see what he would want to spend his freeplay scratchers on. He eyes a “Golden Eagle†machine, but someone is on it. He walks into high limit, and I ask him about, “Money Stormâ€, “Tabascoâ€, or “The Great Turkey Shootâ€. He says he's never seen big winners on the first two and was indifferent on the third, even though pleeplus got a hand pay on it recently. I then slyly suggested the dollar 9/7 Triple Double Bonus (99.58%) games I found, but he's not a VP guy. He eventually settles on a multiline Triple Double Diamond slot near the VP section and was able to recoup about $200 of the freeplay. We chat for a bit more, before he wraps it up for the night. It was nice meeting you and A; hope to again in a couple of months!
M and I decide to give “Barnyard Poker†a shot. It's a multiplier game that tries to be cute with animals growing as multipliers increase. Occasionally the animals explode and their multipliers get spread among the three hands in the pic below. The golden pig with the 15X replaced the exploding animal. Too bad we couldn't find the fourth card!
We go our separate ways for a bit. M hits a penny slot for 3535 pennies (88X bet), the address of my favorite casino in Vegas, the Linq!
I get a couple of beers and quads to hold my own:
Also tried a Stella Artois. Have had it before, but mostly a Heineken wannabe. And green bottles suck (5.2%; 3 sips). Went back to Bud and find M at the 2 cent STP machines. She proceeds to go on a MASSIVE run and hits all these in the next hour.
4 3's
4 4's with a 4X multiplier for $32
3X Full House
9's
10's
And the “coup de gras†her first AWAK in a few years while actually playing DDB for $40!
All her hits on the machine makes her profit nearly a 2c Royal of $80, and she's up $115 for the day! I playing next to her hit nothing at all, and I played more lines! haha
I play for awhile longer and struggle to hit anything on VP. Eventually I decide I want to try the non-high-limit version of the “ The Great Turkey Shootâ€. If jpw would have got this, he would have got a handpay (80X bet)!
I was just happy to escape with a $15 profit on the machine and go to bed. I was probably down about $50 for the day.
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Day 3: Rough Move, Split Decisions Pay Off Handsomely in my “Lucky†Flamingo Shirt, and Fancier Food than Usual
Today was moving day to Tunica Roadhouse, our typical stomping grounds for weekdays. I put on the “lucky†Flamingo shirt I bought at the Flamingo gift shop for $4 right after the 6-line dealt penny royal I got on Presidents' Day 2012 at Flamingo. The luck has been weak with it lately though. Lost $50 at Joliet last time.
Back when I didn't own the shirt and had a "dumb phone":
So we pack up things at the Gold Strike and check out, but we don't plan to leave just yet. We want to use some of the food credit at the buffet (only thing of value really open) as well as earn me enough points for a scratchoff of my own. We thought it would be a good idea we each earned a scratchoff just in case they verify you had to have at least one for the room as they had to input the room night onto your account.
M was finished and had one. I, however, was 26 points short as of Monday morning. So we try various slots and are getting mildly beat up. Try “Golden Eagleâ€, “Catsâ€, “Outback Jackâ€. Got a $4 bonus on the latter one, but it got ate away. We're six points short and $30 poorer when we try the 2c STP. But it seemed to take forever ($10 coin-in/point) and I bump up to 1 line of 7/5 Bonus w/STP for dimes (98.29%). We hold our own and finish. Also take another crack at Barnyard and win $20, so that was a lot better. Get my scratchoff ($5 food), return a few minutes later and say, “I must have got lucky, they probably don't give too many free nights!†She agreed. However, she said they gave away the $10k freeplay scratchoff while we were there, so jpw had a decent shot at it. :( Lady said the guy earned 20 of them and was only aware of the promo thanks to a fellow gambler telling him.
Also got one mini quad:
So we eat Buffet Americana again, and while waiting in line an Asian lady asked us if we were eating with a comp. At first M said “no†because that's our usual response. I corrected her about the scratchoffs. She then told the cashier to throw the party checking out on her card as she had a $75 food credit (= 5 lunch buffets) that she didn't want to go to waste. That was very nice of her, and I love reading generosity like this on VMB and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the buffet this time wasn't as good because the food wasn't constantly being made and some of their heating devices are subpar. One thing they didn't have for dinner but had for lunch which I like was some marinated, grilled chicken breasts. But they would have been better if they were warmer. Nevertheless, we still got decently full by the end of dessert.
Now it was after 2, and we figured that was late enough to check-in at Roadhouse. When we get there, we see a man with his hands up outside the casino surrounded by police and sounding impaired, pleading his case for whatever he did. It didn't look like he was in a good spot. And by the time we got to the checkout desk, we find out we would also be in a less than ideal spot. The person checking us in unfortunately informs us that the rooms we prefer (527 and 524) are not available. 527 is actually occupied, and 524 still needs to be cleaned. M then asks “how long will it take to be cleaned?†and his snippy response was “I'm not going to rush housekeeping to clean the room.†That wasn't what she asked jerk. Anyway, we know we have decent luck with 524, so we say we'll wait, and slowly drag our stuff back to the car.
So now there were a few decisions to make which would become key. Three things we wanted to accomplish today, visit Horseshoe (10X slot/5X VP multiplier), visit Resorts (mainly me for bartop progressives), and visit Sam's Town (9/6 JoB bartop, slots she likes, new craft beer bar, and a weak promo from 6 to 8).
Decision 1: Horseshoe or Resorts/Sam's first?
Initially I wanted to go to Resorts/Sam's later, but now we had at least 90 minutes to burn. M seemed indifferent. And considering the guy they just arrested, it also reminded me I don't like us driving out too late. I say screw the later promo and go to Sam's/Resorts now.
Decision 2: Resorts or Sam's first?
This decision M seemed indifferent again, so I eventually decide to get Resorts out of the way first because if I don't she might not be in the mood to go later.
Decision 3: Which VP game to play?
At Resorts there are two progressive VP bars. For the best games, Stage Bar has 15/10 Double Deuces (98.86%+prog.) and at the Delta Deuces bar (where you'd think the deuces would actually be), they have 7/5 Super DDB (98.61%+prog.). When we walked in the security guard gave us two thumbs up and said “Win Big Today!†I was hoping to, but my heart sank a little when I saw the Stage Bar royal at $1003.
I was pretty sure I was playing 7/5 Super DDB now, but I bother to check its meter anyway, and it's actually one of the highest I've seen at about $1317. Math says 7/5 Super DDB and it's not that close (99.27% vs. 98.86%) and I didn't care about the tax form either. I thought, “Wouldn't it be crazy if I hit here?†Because Super DDB at Resorts is the game I got off to a running $320 start in 2013 trip.
Sure enough...it happened!
Yes!!! I thought to myself, awesome, I just won $200! Look again, and wait, I have the kicker, that's $500!! First time I hit Aces w/kicker at quarters and only second time overall while playing a DDB game!!! Third biggest machine win to date! Biggest single win wearing the shirt!!! By my reaction, a few people nearby wanted to see. Including a slot attendant. But now I felt weird to take a pic, so I asked, and he said, “I won't say anything.†And we both hit Aces w/kicker on the trip?? Crazy!!! Started texting away to jpw and also grosx2 as we were sharing results on our respective trips. Also got a celebratory beer. How could you not when you cash something like this out?
Again, for safekeeping, I give M $400 of it. Did I really need to do it, probably not, but I know I would be mad if I blew it all. Shockingly, we see the Stage Bar progressive down to $1001. Someone actually hit the Royal while we were there! I was hoping the same security guy was there, but nope, shift change.
Move over to Sam's. Look for info about their new craft beer bar. Sunday-Thursday only and off the gaming floor. Oops. Next trip I guess. Get in, play a little Ultimate X, win a bit, try Outback Jack again because the minor was like a ridiculous number. Get a crappy bonus, quit. Then I try another slot I'm a sucker for, “Match Gameâ€. I played Match Game Bonus with Rip Taylor, I pick the best answer and only win 10X bet. Why do I play this again?
See Rip's Hair???
Now I decide that's enough effing around and head over to the bar to play some 9/6 JoB (99.54%) and suck down a couple of Bud Light Platinums (6%; 3.5 sips). Glad I delayed at the bar for a little bit as my favorite bartender at Sam's Town, Todd, was just starting. Showed him the pic while saying I'm glad I went to Resorts first, would have only got $31.25 here. He gave me some congrats, and he told me about a few of his VP exploits in the last few years. Sound like he was doing decent himself. No quads, but still was able to leave Sam's up another $25.
Get to Roadhouse to check in and fortunately the room was ready, or they might have really heard our wrath. Eventually dinner time rolled around, but we weren't super hungry, so we decide to have an interesting dinner at the Atrium Cafe. Splitting mozzarella sticks and an 8 oz. filet mignon to help burn off more of the food credits. And if we still were hungry, then maybe dessert.
Not sure I've been to a place that puts diced tomatoes on top of mozzarella sticks, and it came with six...I still haven't got the hang of “food pornâ€.
Our steak and baked potato after splitting. Potato was a good one for 2 people. The pan on top was some complimentary cornbread with a hint of jalapeno.
Bill was roughly $50. Steak was better than the one we had at Camelot Steakhouse at Excalibur, very tender. We'll likely get another one next trip. But now it was time to get some more gambling on this time at Horseshoe. M wanted to play there for the 10X slot multiplier as the Shoe has quite a few games she likes to play. Problem was, M was getting beat up left and right on slots today, just like day 1. She lost $50 or so by the time she got to Horseshoe. And was only up $20 or so for the trip. Her bad luck at slots continued. And I tried a “Princess Bride†slot that Stevie D did well on, but I lost about $10 in $15 coin-in.
I meet up with M while I say I'm going to the bar; she decides to submit to STP poker again, this time for nickels. This time I decide to get a Smith and Forge cider (6%; 3.5 sips). Well I got a few texts from M.
Playing 6/5 Bonus (97.14%) because she said she wasn't hitting anything at 8/5 DDB (97.06%)...But now things start coming... all within the hour.
Dealt Queens!
And get this pic...with omg written. OMG indeed!
4 Aces with 5X for $100!! First ever Aces multiplied on STP/DSTP for either of us! Too bad she was running bad on DDB...with that 2nd AAAA + 2 of diamonds for the trip, she would have matched my $500!
9s
8X full house
Going from $10 to $115 on nickels in an hour
I get over to the Roadhouse vs. my nemesis 9/6/5 DB w/DSTP (98.30%), and I unfortunately can't get anything going over a few hours.
My two best hits:
wrong “jack off†to another royal
Decided to try an MGD (4.66%; 2.5 sips)
Why do companies think clear/green bottles are a good idea? This one had a bit of skunk.
I also took a stab at the 9/6 JoB progressive (99.54%) and bled off another $20. Best I could do.
Also found my favorite slot attendant and told him my good fortune this weekend. Also gave him $5 for listening to my drunk self slash he's a good kid. By the time it was all said and done, I probably was down almost $40 at everything except Resorts, but I'll take a ~$445 win! Not bad for my “lucky†shirt!
The rest of the trip was pretty routine, but our luck ran out at checkout. M wanted to use her reward credits, but she played at the Shoe last on her card. That made the computer throw a fit, but we know competent employees can fix the problem with a “refresh†of the system because this isn't the first time this has happened to us. But our incompetent employee said there was nothing she could do. That really ticked M off that she wouldn't even try to do what we suggested. So we just don't bother sticking around and leave town.
One final nutty story. The dude cleaning up tables at our dinner on the way back was named “Kenoâ€. I felt bad for him. Were your parents addicted enough to Keno to name you that? Ugh. If I have any kids, I'm bucking the current trend, and they will actually have some more common names.
What a whirlwind trip!!! First ever four digit trip win!!! I left up about $1175, jpw won $600, A won $300, and M won a bit over $100.
And as I have said before, “Tunica is much more fun when you win!!!â€
