Video poker at Silverton and Hooters, etc.

Who has your favorite video poker games? Who should have more?
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JDanno
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Video poker at Silverton and Hooters, etc.

Post by JDanno »

We just got back from a weekend in Vegas. My wife spent the week with her elderly mother in SoCal and I flew out from Nashville Thursday evening to meet her and our daughter in Vegas. We stayed several nights in the Silverton. I really like that place. The people are friendly and the Bass Pro Shop and the aquariums are great also. The rooms are new looking (the casino is only several years old) and comfortable.
As I had reported earlier this month, the Bob Dancer machines were gone and the better machines (the ones with 9/6 JoB) were relocated or missing. In their place ( by the aquarium) they had put some $.25 BP instead. Well, a month later, the nickel 9/6 JoB machines showed up over by the restrooms next to the Mi Casa restaurant. I also found a Blackjack machine that let you play nine hands at a time at either $.25 or $1 per hand. Tried that one successfully for a couple of hours.
If you like Craps, they also have a couple of tables with $3 minimums with 10x odds. You can play a long time with those. The table we were playing seemed to be cold so we played the Don't Pass line and I kept throwing out 7s so we won a few bucks.
 
I had never been to Hooters so after going to the Trop to see the "Bodies" exhibit, we went next door to see what they had. Just as you enter the right front door to the right, the first set of machine are the ones called "Optimum". Nice schedules. I didn't see anything else worth playing just on a cursery stroll through. My family likes to make fun of me because I can't go thru a casino without checking out the pay schedules.
 
The Venetian, Wynn and the Bellagio had really, really lousy schedules. No surprise there! But a 6/5 for JoB?!! That sucks! Also, didn't see ANYBODY playing the machines either. 7/5 JoB was the most common at these properties.
 My son-in-law wanted to try the Craps at the Monte Carlo. While he was at the table ($3 minimum, 20x odds and extremely crowded and smoky on Saturday night) I found a $.01 VP machine with 50 hands. That was fun. I won $30 and of course had to play $20 of it back into the machine. :)
 
The next day (Sunday) we visited the Palms. It was 11 o'clock AM and there weren't a dozen people in the whole casino. I guess everybody was partied out from the previous evening. There was one guy playing Craps that had turned about $300 into several thousand. He was playing the Don't Pass Line and agressively playing the Don't Come. He had worked his stake on the rail to at least 150 to 200 $25 chips and at least 125 $5 chips. It was amazing. 
While we were in the Bellagio seeing "O", our kids went over to the Wynn. They watched a guy blow thru at LEAST $40 grand in about 30 minutes playing Craps (obviously not very well!!).  
 
I came home $100 poorer but had a great time. My problem is I can't leave the 100 hand machine at the Silverton alone. I usually win at everything I play and then blow it all on the 100 hand. Oh well! Sure was fun.
 
Christmas we are going back out to SoCal to check on momma (she's 96) and are going to spend a long weekend in Vegas again. Don't you know that Southwest ONLY flies through Vegas from Nashville to Ontario??!! gonna stay at the Stratosphere this time for something different.

MikeA
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Post by MikeA »

Good report JDanno.  I haven't made it to Hooter's yet though I had heard they had some good paytables.  I haven't done well at any of the "optimum play" machines but there is no reason for that.  The pay tables are the best I've found with all games on the machines being full-pay.  I'll have to make it a point to head for Hooter's on our next trip.

JDanno
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Post by JDanno »

Mike,
I hope the machines will still be there! They sure seem to move them around a lot. You might check out Monte Carlo in the middle of the strip. There was a lot of "locals" there on Saturday night. That's usually a good sign! I liked the penny 50 hand machine the best. I seem to do the best on the penny and nickel machines. Probably because at this point in my life, I have the tolerance for the swings in those games where as the $.25 can get real expensive real fast.
We are going again just before Xmas for three days and will stay at the Strat.  I spotted some good DDBP there in June and I know that they advertise that they have some positive EV machines. Probably all of two!! I personally prefer the Silverton but the Strat had three nights plus two tower passes for $140.  I want to try out some night time photography from the top of the tower back toward the Strip. My kids stayed there earlier this year and and the rooms were pretty nice. REALLY nice as they only paid $13 for the night.
Danny

MikeA
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Post by MikeA »

When we go (maybe 4 times a year) we stay Downtown.  But we always rent a car and are all over the area, especially the outlying casinos.  Monte Carlo is one we haven't been to.  Neither did we make it to the Boardwalk before they imploded it.  We are not "big" on the Strip casinos.  Too much hoop-la for our tastes.  I did visit the Strat once.  Rode the elevator to the top with my kids.  Thought I was going to get arrested at the security check-point there.  I had all the touristy type things...camera, MP3 player, about a dozen decks of playing cards and dice (freebies from joining Player's Clubs) and had to unload all of it and let them go through it.  Hell, it was nothing but an elevator ride!  Not like you were crossing the border or catching a plane for Timbuktu!

JDanno
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Post by JDanno »

Yeah, I know what you mean! I thought we were getting on an airliner the way they searched everything. I guess you can never be too careful. You think about all the changes in the way we have to do things now (since 911) that we have to watch out for terrorists.........airline travel, searchs before going into buildings, government wanting to pry into everything, etc. it's enough to want you drop a nuke on the   whole bunch over ther! :)
My kids hadn't been downtown in a couple of years and they were amazed at how much the place had been improved since they had been there. Friday night had a great crowd. You can get some real bargains on rooms there as compared to the Strip. We've, up till now, always stayed at Silverton and South Point because they are a lot cheaper and both are fairly new facilities. South Point's VP kinda sucks tho. 
I did go into the casino that has the shark tank with the water slide going thru it, and it had been very nicely remodeled. Can't remember the name however. i wouldn't mind staying there!  Danny

MikeA
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Post by MikeA »

That's the Golden Nugget.  The remodeling was completed this past summer.Downtown is not about "glitz" and fancy rooms.  I'm sure you could get one if you wanted to pay enough.  It's never been a priority for me or my wife.  We go there to Play not to recluse in a fancy room.  But, to each his own.Give me a room that is bug free, clean, has a decent bed, and that has a shower and toilet that work, and I'm happy.  Plenty of those rooms Downtown.  It's been a long time since I've paid for a room down there.

JDanno
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Post by JDanno »

I'll have to try the GN next time. How's the crime downtown? It use to be rather dicy. Even the Vegas websites warned you about it.

MikeA
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Post by MikeA »


I'll have to try the GN next time. How's the crime downtown? It use to be rather dicy. Even the Vegas websites warned you about it. "Crime?"  Well, I've never been caught so it must be pretty good!  Seriously, I've never seen any evidence of crime in the Downtown area.  Just be sensible.  I mean, I wouldn't advise walking alone from Fitzgerald's to El Cortez (The Tez) at midnight, but I feel safe enough about the area from Fitzgerald's to Plaza to Main Street Station that I don't worry about my wife running around by herself any time, day or night.  Now, we do go through Las Vegas Club and California Club in order to get to Main Street Station without traversing the streets.  There are a lot of homeless people and Main Street is the path they take to the area north of Fremont where the Police obviously tolerate them bedding down.  So, we avoid that two block stretch of Main Street.The worst I've had happen is to have someone put the bum on me for spare change.  I was coming back to my hotel one morning around 5am and a feeble old guy was in front of me looking in every one of the outside ashtrays for butts.  I stopped him and gave him what was left in my pack of cigs (I had a couple of cartons in the room.)  I thought the poor guy was going to cry!You need to understand that there are security police (real cops, not rent-a-cops) on bicycles covering the area under the canopy.  Since they have renovated Fremont east of the Tez, the cops are patrolling that area a lot more too.Like I said, use your common sense and have fun Downtown.

oej719
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Post by oej719 »

Pack a small sidearm strapped to your calf.
Having a little heat discourages crime.
MikeA is right use your head. Most casino areas of vegas are safer than a bank lobby.

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