Las Vegas Trip Account

[onemoretry]

My wife and I recently returned from a two week Las Vegas trip, with a two night stay at Seneca Niagara tacked on at the end. The following account contains comments, statistics, etc., that many folks may find somewhat interesting, and which others may find completely boring. Read on at your own risk.

First, the really great news for us - we finished considerably in the black! That does not always happen, but thanks to my being somewhat "over royalled" this trip, it did this time. I was ahead just under $1900 at the machines themselves, and cashback and scratch cards (more on those later) added about $700 to that total. My wife finished slightly up, as well, at plus $700.

The Seneca component of the trip was not as good to us. I managed an $800 profit, but my wife dropped $1400 there, thanks to one of those particularly brutal sessions that multiline play can produce - playing 5 line 50c 8/5 bonus poker, she was down, in an hour, about 15% of just over $8000 of her coin in.

The trip started with a drive to Buffalo and flight from there to Las Vegas, on January 9. Thanks to the balmy winter in this area to that point, the temperature in Buffalo was about the same as that in Las Vegas.

We stayed four nights at Main Street Station, four at the Rio, three at South Point, and three at the M, before flying back to Buffalo on January 23. We had never stayed at the Rio before, but part of our deal with Caesars Entertainment, who covered most of our air fare, was a four night stay at one of their properties. We picked the Rio, since we knew they had better video poker than other Caesars Las Vegas properties. We had stayed at all three of the other properties previously.

On now to some of the highlights and lowlights. Seven royal flushes in about 180,000 hands (one per 25700) was undoubtedly the biggest highlight. Four were in roughly 85,000 hands of 25c play, while the other three were in 94400 hands of 50 line 5c play. The royals came twice on one card draws, three times on two card draws, once on a three card draw, and the most surprising one on a four card draw. A definite lowlight was the fact that, before finally hitting a royal on a one card draw, I had failed about 175 consecutive times. That includes two consecutive complete whiffs on 50 line, where I was playing 9/6 JOB for nickels

The mindset playing multiline vp, particularly something like 50 line, when dealt a promising hand, is not "will I hit?", it's "how many will I get?". Missing twice on four to the royal draws was bad enough, but even worse was a session starting with three consecutive draws to trips without making one quad! After that, I started keeping track. For that entire session of about 600 deals I received trips 18 times (therefore 900 draws), and made quads 25 times, for a measly 1 per 36 success rate.

On this trip, NSU deuces became just U deuces - about 19,000 hands played, with zero royals and zero sets of deuces. My return for the game was about 94%. The triple line deuces wild progressive at the M (98.91% deuces) was a bit better, with one royal and one set of deuces in 14200 hands. The two deuces games combined for 33,200 hands, with one royal (fine), and a mere one set of deuces (not so fine).

However, all those royals more than made up for the negatives.

Earlier, I referred to scratch cards. This is a promotion at Main Street Station where, if you are playing full coin, with a players card in the machine, and end up with a natural four of a kind or better, you can request a scratch card from an attendant. They are almost always for $2, but occasionally you get a $3 or $5 one. About once or twice a year, someone receives a $5000 one.

Why go to the bother for a $2 scratch card? Well, these things do add up. I cashed 108 of them for a total of $222, which represents just under 0.4% of my total coin in at Main Street Station. Add that to the 0.5% cashback I was receiving there (another promotion - the norm for the Sapphire card level is 0.2%), and I was effectively playing NSU deuces at 100.63%, and 8/5 bonus poker at 100.07%.   

I have some more, but this is probably long enough. If you've made it this far, congratulations - you are at the end.

[DaBurglar]

This was a good report.....seriously, I applaud the effort and detail.    And congrats for winning in Vegas (which I have no problem believing!)Also, I would like to point out that you have illustrated what I myself have done since I came to this forum, that being provide detailed info on your play that includes meaningful and specific STATISTICAL analysis and information.   You proved that it is NOT.....NOT difficult to keep track of BASIC simple things like total hands, total coin in, and specific scenarios like how many times you had a draw for trips to a quad, etc.    Thus, all the naysayers and lazy people here who say it is too hard, or doubt when people like us provide such useful info, can all go fly a kite.Again nice report.

[alpax]

Well done on the report OMT, might be the only one I recall that was shared in great detail but I appreciate the time and effort it takes for anyone to write a trip report. It was honestly interesting and it affirms how highly I think of you and your spouse as good VP players from the opportunities you've planned ahead and pursued. Nice to have such a good long trip and winning at the same time.

I had a quick question, when you refer to 94400 hands of 50 line 5c play. Does that mean 94400 / 50 = 1888 draws? Multiline games do run at a much slower pace so you and your spouse might take awhile to play out those hands if it was 94jk rounds. I play single line and cannot even play 90k hands in a years span.

Again congrats on your win OMT, I was in Vegas right before you got there and had miserable results in just a 3 day 2 night trip.

[onemoretry]

It did take somewhat longer than I imagined it would to organize my thoughts into some sort of coherent account. As our trip progressed, I convinced myself I should do it. I am glad now that it's done.

You are correct about the 94400 hands. That is the product 50 times the number of deals. I tracked that by recording points earned each session ($1 per point). Total coin in for the game was $23600.

[Tedlark]

Nice report OMT, congrats on the royals and the number of 4oaks that you got at Main Street Station. You showed that $2.00 can add up to a tidy little sum.

How did you like Rio, for your first time staying there? Did you try the Carnival World Buffet and did you know that the Seafood Buffet was rolled into the Carnival World Buffet? I like staying at Rio and I've always done well there on video poker.

Congrats again.

[case]

Anytime you come home up money after two weeks in casinos is a huge plus. Gotta love those royals.

I also was at Main Street while you were there and I collect those 2 dollar scratch as well.

Here is a story: A few years ago I was in the casino when a lady got a 5,000 scratch. She was right behind me at those full pay just south of Boars Head bar. All the staff came around to take a look as they don't see a 5,000 very often. The girl who gave her the ticket said it was the second one she has handed out. lots of excitement.

[Mr.Dawes]

I enjoyed reading your report OMT, thanks for the time you put in and congrats on the wins. It provoked a trip down memory lane, as I lived in Las Vegas about a 3 minute walk from the Rio when it was being built.

[Vman96]

Nice report! And good to hear someone was overroyaled for once! You rarely seem to hear it on this forum!

[onemoretry]

How did you like Rio, for your first time staying there? Did you try the Carnival World Buffet and did you know that the Seafood Buffet was rolled into the Carnival World Buffet? I like staying at Rio and I've always done well there on video poker.
Congrats again.
To be clear, despite never having stayed there before, we have played at the Rio in the past.

That said, our four night stay there was very enjoyable. We did visit the buffet a couple of times, but for breakfast/brunch, not dinner.

Our accommodation there was quite spectacular. They gave us a suite at one end of the 35th floor in the Masquerade tower that was just slightly smaller than our house.

We would definitely stay there again, even if they weren't quite so generous with our accommodation.

[onemoretry]

Nice report! And good to hear someone was overroyaled for once! You rarely seem to hear it on this forum!
Yes, the past five or six months have been great, and I am definitely over royalled for that period of time.

I have been playing this game for over twenty years, and there have been other good spells as well. But, there have been droughts, too.

Overall, I believe I am, in fact, somewhat under royalled.