Ongoing VP TR, PART 2!
Hi all, apparently my previous thread may have gotten so long that it's causing issues for the website. So, here is a ne
I was downtown at the GN for the first week of Aug, and it (GN) was about normal.
The activity on Fremont was not near as "electric" (I'm too old to use that word).
It was 75% of what I saw a year ago.
Leon's not going to see decline of people, because he goes to the casinos where price doesn't matter to the clientele.
I think this is the story. I just got back from a weekend at cosmo and it was generally busy: high limit slots, high limit tables on the floor had 4-5BJ tables going and always a few people at the little VP bar there. Chandelier bar you could never get a seat. Everything else was totally packed. Given the amount of play they are getting, I do think they could be a little more attentive, one waitress for high limit every 30 minutes is ridiculous. (Also had the same issue at Wynn)
The influencer thing has to stop; no one cares about your $1s 3line super times pay; especially at 9pm on a Saturday when people are trying to actually enjoy themselves. I am sure casinos are losing a lot of play here, their whole entourage takes up the entire bank of games, and they generally are just slow rolling these machines. I left just because it’s uncomfortable being around that. Keep it to the early afternoon or be betting big.
We had a new guy and did a the customary strip walk: once you get to linq, NY/NY, Excalibur it gets bleak. No one wants to play 25$ craps or BJ at these places when the same game is available at a much nicer casino that doesn’t treat you like garbage. And for slots and VP players, you’re better off anywhere else for the exact same game (if not better).
There’s some tough decisions to be made on the strip. The low end casinos (and all of CET) are a problem and no one wants to game there; so it’s just cheap hotel rooms with overpriced **** food. The middle and high end places don’t seem too phased, but they gotta step up their hospitality game. It can’t all just be the Wynn.
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I think this is the story. I just got back from a weekend at cosmo and it was generally busy: high limit slots, high limit tables on the floor had 4-5BJ tables going and always a few people at the little VP bar there. Chandelier bar you could never get a seat. Everything else was totally packed. Given the amount of play they are getting, I do think they could be a little more a
Pretty much hit the nail on the head with everything here. I actually considered letting the Wynn staff know about those douchebags and tell them it is/will limit my play in the future. Obv the Wynn doesn't care about anything else. It's just so low class and idiotic, not the right look for a place like the Wynn.
Everyone blames "corporate greed," but Vegas properties' biggest expense has to be labor, and the cost of labor plus other major expenses like food, maintenance, upkeep, are all much higher than they were 20 years ago and are not going down. Combined with what I understand to be a decrease in gaming overall, the properties just can't sustain the old business model of cheap rooms and food to get people in the door. That's now reserved for people with the play to support it. That said, there's still Strip rooms that can be had pretty cheaply considering their overall room quality and location.
I'm not qualified to speak on whether wages have kept up with inflation, but it certainly seems to me that, especially among the vocal Vegas crowd, people's perception of buying power is warped. Folks ignore the fact that just accounting for inflation, everything is going to have a face value that's 50% larger today than in 2008. That's not Vegas getting more expensive -- that's universal price creep from inflation. But the folks complaining about their $22 nachos generally aren't thinking about how wages have gone up since then -- and maybe their personal wages haven't by much.
Vegas properties' biggest expense has to be the rake they pay to private equity that actually owns any given casino. It ain't the price of nachos.
Everyone blames "corporate greed," but Vegas properties' biggest expense has to be labor, and the cost of labor plus other major expenses like food, maintenance, upkeep, are all much higher than they were 20 years ago and are not going down. Combined with what I understand to be a decrease in gaming overall, the properties just can't sustain the old business model of cheap room
My baseline assumption is that your average worker is underpaid. I also agree with your statements about inflation and price increases. To a certain extent, we know everything costs more these days, including for the corporations etc to provide. So I'm somewhat ok with that. Far less ok with your average Joe unable to earn a living wage.
Knowing corporate greed, I'm not ok with rising prices without a concomitant increase in wages to workers. I'm not ok with record shareholder gains, CEO salaries etc when the needle has barely moved for the little guy. If that means my investment portfolio has smaller gains then so be it- every empire in history has collapsed when things got too crappy for the little guy.
The sht service/goods that come with a lot of Vegas these days? Yeah, not ok with that either. CET is a shthole, MGM somewhat less so. It's pretty obv a lot of those places are just doing the bare minimum and it really feels like nickel and diming. The Wynn may be highway robbery but at least they try and make it special and the employees seem to actually give a sht.
In other news, been to the local several times since I got back, it's sucked each time. Until yesterday.
First dealt royal in almost 2 years! Really needed this one.
Gave far too much back trying to make this a massive day, but still walked away +44k.
[First dealt royal in almost 2 years! Really needed this one.]
That is stunning.
Congrats!
Yo!!!!! Dealt Royal on a great bet! That will cheer you up
Awesome! What a great surprise when that hits the screen!
whoawhoawhoa...nsfw tag jeez
My baseline assumption is that your average worker is underpaid. I also agree with your statements about inflation and price increases. To a certain extent, we know everything costs more these days, including for the corporations etc to provide. So I'm somewhat ok with that. Far less ok with your average Joe unable to earn a living wage.Knowing corporate greed, I'm not ok with
Omfg - BOOM!
Very happy for you mate.
How many times do you check to make sure you held all of the cards on a hand like that?
60 royals… stunning in its simplicity and beauty.
Greta hit Leon.
According to official Vegas numbers Vegas visitor numbers are down compared to last year. So far 2025 visitors are down 8.5 % compared to 2024.
sweeeeet royal. congrats.
That was a beautiful thing to see. Congrats on the royal flush on steroids.
Awesome stuff! Well deserved!
9/4-7 TR
Just got back. Like last time, I'm probably gonna spread this TR out and post a bit at a time.
Backstory- I got an invite to a massive slot tourney weekend at Wynn a few months ago. They've got a 5k, 10k and 25k tournament all going the same weekend. With rebuys, it's actually a 6.5k, a 12.5k and a 30k!!! Typical Wynn structure, super heavy up top and a separate prize pool for the rebuy rounds.
Initially I was only offered the 5k and they made it pretty clear that there had to be special circumstance to get more than one entry offer. The upshot is that since it's all drawing from the same player pool, each tournament has less runners. The 5k is projected to only have 70 (usual is 100), the 10 to have 40 (usual would be ~ 70) and the 25 will have only 25 people (not playing in that anyways). D got an offer for the 5, so obv he's in. AND, eventually I also got offered the 10, which I managed to convince my mom and D to split 3 ways. So we're in the 5k twice this weekend, AND the 10k, all with fewer runners. I swear to god, if we don't bink something this weekend...
Total expenditure for me is over 11k, total out lay for the team is over 25k! Finally, my mom decided to join so she'll be hanging with us as well! Should be a super fun weekend. D and I have a 50/50 swap in the 5k as usual.
Agenda-
Thurs- get in, D gets in late, dinner at Mizumi
Fri- reg for tournament, main rounds of 5k, dinner at Chyna Club at FB and give them some action afterwards
Sat- rebuy for 5k, main rds for 10k, rebuy for 10k, ???BINK something, dinner at Delilah, Jon Batiste at 8pm
Sun- D and I head home. Mom stays until Tues!
Bankroll- 40k
I'm really looking forward to Jon Batiste as well. Since arranging this trip, I took the time to learn more about him (I only knew who he was peripherally) and I seem to have stumbled into tickets to the most talented American artist/composer of our generation. I literally had to twist my mom's arm to go but she finally relented. I suspect she'll be glad she did.
There's just so much potential for fun this weekend. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE let us bink!
Day 1
Mom and I head to airport Thurs AM. Flight is on time and actually gets in early for once!
Never gets old.
The Wynn has replaced all of their Rolls Royces. Can't see what was wrong with the old ones, but hey...
Check in is smooth and we're ready to go shortly after!
Mom is going to grab lunch, I'm going to hit the machines. I figure I'll likely do a ton of craps with D when he gets in, hopefully I can start this trip off with a huge VP score. My recent dealt royal notwithstanding, I've run really cold over the last ~ 2 yrs.
Early start here.
Things soon turn cold and I head to the new multiline machine that plays as low as 5c credits with 9/6 paytable!
Only hits of note. First one is a good draw, obv.
I play for hrs, but quite honestly it's bad and I'm stuck 7k by the afternoon. I'm exhausted, I've been up since 4:30am and I head upstairs for a nap. I have to survive and didn't do a very good job of that.
Free goodies.
After the nap, I head back to hi limit and give the multiline machine there a try. I had planned on playing more UX (just like last trip), but I'm not getting anything, UX is so swingy and in what will become a recurring theme of this trip, the 1$ multiline machine keeps me alive.
It's a breakeven session, but at least I didn't lose.
Mizumi
D's plane got delayed and he joins us for dinner just as we're sitting down. We get a ton of stuff, not pictured was more sushi and udon.
Overall, it was the typical 7-8/10, way overpriced Mizumi experience. We didn't actually order that much food and the bill still came out to 500$. Knock on wood, we'll have enough food comp to get us thru the trip.
After dinner, we say goodnight to my mom and D and I head to craps. Let's just say we started the exact opposite of last trip. I was really looking forward to playing bigger, and I did get to do that. I was betting either 660$ or 550$ on the even numbers and while I didn't get wiped out, it was never good and I got ground down about 3k after about 1.5 hrs. D and I decide to take a small break, we head back to VP and lose another 1k. Time for more craps- I play smaller this time but it's absolute garbage. I haven't made a bet bigger than 300$, starting with bets around 100-150! So terrible.
So at this point I'm stuck 8k on VP and 5k on craps. It's nearly midnight. Only consolation for D is with his playing style (regress after he gets his roll paid for) vs mine (never regress), he's doing relatively better than me. He's stuck "only" 1k. Screw this. I'm exhausted again and clearly the move is live to fight another day. Not the first day I was looking for.
Day 1 result- -13k
Day 2 coming soon...
Here's to another day!
last trip only feels like a few weeks back! happy for another
Yay another TR so quick! Looking forward for a turnaround
Day 2
I wake up at 4am!!! Toss and turn until 4:30 then get up for good. I reason I can take a nap during the day, I'm sure I'll need it.
Let's run better today...
As can be seen, the machine was decent this morning and I stepped up my play at some point. Of course, I find a way to give way too much back and the next pic is over an hr later.
Still, a positive morning and I've clawed about 5k back. We meet at Jardin for breakfast.
Breakfast has really improved at Jardin in the last few years. My mom was surprised I was even eating here, I told her things had gotten better. She hasn't been in years and agreed, things have improved.
After breakfast, D and I walk to the Encore craps tables. We've had so many good post-breakfast runs here. A familiar crew greets us, we've got the table to ourselves and are poised to have some fun...
Except it's awful. I lose 3k in no time flat. D and I are shooting terribly, eventually other people join but it's no better. I rage head to VP.
Small loser here as well, I'm break even for the day. I really need a nap.
After my nap, I head back to VP. D is on a work call and should be done soon.
Gotta say, at least the aces are coming in this trip. I believe this was also a small loser but not much, maybe 1k? D is done with work, we head back to the Encore tables. AND... it's terrible again! I'm now down 4k for the day and D is almost on life support already. Back to VP.
This is almost insulting. Not quite a dealt royal. Yeah, actually, REALLY NOT QUITE a dealt royal.
At least I manage to hold on to a little of that money, I'm now down 3k for the day. We head to the slot tourney registration.
It's a 50's theme. They had their usual buffet style assortment of food, pretty decent as usual. We've got a late dinner tonight at Chyna Club at FB so I grab some food bc I know I won't make it until then.
I spin the wheel for free credit in the 5k and come up with 750 (out of a possible 1k). D spins and literally says "I know I'm getting 500, just write it down right now". He's not even looking at the wheel and I tell him, "dude, at least enjoy the sweat". He reluctantly looks and the wheel stops on... yep, 500$. Sigh.
I then head over to the gumball machine which is the 10k prize center. I get a gumball... 500$. That's gotta be the minimum. Disappointing. The woman tells me the top prize was 2500 but there's only 3 in there. I'm a little pissed, there were other prizes in there as well and I literally got less from the 10k than the 5k. Argh. At least registration was painless and we got what we wanted- D and I are in separate groups for the 5k for maximum sweat, and I'm in group 2 for the 10k. We have about an hr to kill before we have to come back for our 5k main rounds, so where do we head? Yep, back to the Encore tables.
We buy in scared, and short...
Spoiler
And it remains horrible. Stuck ANOTHER 2k. D is officially on life support.
So unfun. It's not even the money so much- I'm really doing ok for the day all things considered. And we have everything to play for. It's just the way things have been happening, and D and I continue to be the worst shooters at every table. I've already passed the dice so many times. I hate rolling poorly and the looks you get from other people... if I'm going to lose I'd rather someone ELSE do it. We head up for the 5k- need a bink here!
Rest of day 2 coming soon... stuck 5k for the day so far.
Rest of Day 2
D leads off in the 5k slot tourney. His first rd is mediocre. I play his second, and it's slightly better but still nothing amazing. Once again, we very quickly find ourselves already needing the last two rounds to be amazing to even have a chance in a slot tournament! I swear, these things are so frustrating, even more so when you see randoms just crushing, while saying things like "I won one of these 3 months ago for 150k!" or something like that. So annoying.
D's last rd is garbage, and one of our three bullets is essentially toast. Unless he crushes in the rebuy tomorrow, we're min cashing his bullet. Now I'm up.
My first rd is
Spoiler
garbage.
My second rd (D plays) is
Spoiler
hot garbage.
FFFFF.
My third rd is
Spoiler
decent, mid 60s. In and of itself it's nothing, but I'm not TOTALLY out of this if I have a god rebuy rd. OK, I'm likely out anyways.
SO SO SO frustrating. We exit the tourney, with 2 of 3 bullets likely crushed. I had originally asked for the car to take us to FB from the Wynn side, but somewhere in the day reasoned since the tourney was at Encore, it'd be easier to leave from the Encore side. So I moved it, and let my mom know. Well, now we're exiting the tourney super pissed, with time to kill and no desire to play since we've just been bleeding the whole day... plus we have to walk back to the Wynn to drop our tourney credentials back in the room (really don't feel like taking those to FB). We end up walking back to the Wynn, and I don't want to change things on them and my mom yet again, so we walk all the way BACK to Encore just to catch the car... it's all very tilting and I'm sure any long time gambler can appreciate the frustration. Sometimes you just want to get the F out of a casino with minimal hassle and it seems like those are the times you always get trapped.
Eventually, we do make it to the Encore Tower suites entrance.
And... the car's not there. We wait a good 10 min only to find out guess what? They never got the message I had changed to the Encore side and were waiting for me at Wynn! FFUANUSFNUSUNADA
We finally make it to FB.
Eating at Chyna Club for dinner. D and I have been here before and were pretty happy with it, first time for my mom.
I wanted Stagg Jr for bourbon which was on the menu, but they're sold out. OK, let's try this "duck fat old fashioned" ?? Meh whatever, it was ok, didn't taste the duck fat at all, not that I'm sure I would have wanted to anyways. I ordered it out of sheer curiosity, wondering how that could possibly be good in a drink. Just weird.
The food was rather disappointing this time. Wagyu beef dumplings were 3/10, tough like overcooked beef and I should have known any dumpling that wasn't pork based was going to be dry. Everything else was 5-6/10, nothing special, too unidimensional, etc. On top of that, my host told me (without me asking) she'd set me up with food comp for the meal. So I was surprised and happy to hear that- except it never happened. She was out of town for a wedding so I figured I'd let it go and used up my 250$ meal credit that I had on my FB card. In the end, not a big deal and I made sure to let her know. Maybe I can get more out of her next time. But the whole experience added up to a rather mediocre one. Not sure I'll be back.
After dinner, it's time to give FB some action. Mom heads to slots, D to craps and I go to the hi limit room. I'm mentally prepared to give FB 7k but of course would prefer not to go that deep, or better yet book a win.
My very first hand, it deals me this. Sign of things to come?
Spoiler
Result-
Spoiler
OK, so ultimately not that big of deal. At least it's a good start. After that, the machine turns ice cold and I'm stuck 5k in no time flat! Meanwhile, D lost 2.5k at craps super fast as well. I swear, I just CANNOT win at FB. I move to DSTP, hoping for a unicorn.
It's hard to see here, but I held three to a straight flush and hit on an 8x. Need this to happen with a royal!
That money goes fast too, and we finally head back to the Wynn, tail firmly tucked between our legs. I'm stuck 7k at FB.
Lots of traffic outside FB on a Fri night, not sure why.
Once back at the Wynn, we say goodnight to my mom and D and I head to craps. We actually got dropped off at Encore specifically because we knew that's likely where we'd be playing. So we find a table, and craps is cold, once again. I'm down another 2k and so is D. I can't handle any more irritation tonight. I head to bed, D wants to play more (he ended up losing another 500), and we finish Day 2 seriously in the hole, with far less slot tourney hope then we started with.
Day 2 result- -14k
Overall- -27k
Day 3 coming soon...
Hopefully there’s an epic comeback on day 3? [emoji120]
