Ongoing VP TR, PART 2!

yep +1

and tbh, McDonalds breakfast is by far the best part of their menu.

Damm straight, regardless of what that heathen, Randall Stevens, says.

I think some people missed my point.

I'm not an expert and this can probably be taken to the OOT fast food thread, but I grew up on these...

Agree with fw. The sausage in the SEC McMuffin has nice flavor, it's a good breakfast sandwich Pretty much the only thing I get at McBurgers.

Burger Thing? Those "eggs" come out of a bag, if they aren't powdered. A real Egg Muffin has a real egg that came in a shell.

FWIW, the win/loss statement from the casino is easily manipulable. Most pit bosses just punch in what you're in and out for.

In before Leon gets to $32K across on dice with several hits and a timely pulldown and always goes with the McMuffin on every future trip for the superstition.

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm not ghosting this TR. I've got a little time off and want to save the writeups for when I'm bored at work (which isn't now, obv).

****ing leon... always ghosting on TRs!

I am sure I speak for us all when I say we totally understand, we appreciate your effort and time, we feel invested in your process, and hurry the f up.

Day 2

OK, first up, by way of apology, a mini-TR from the local. I've been twice since being back from Vegas. First time was only remarkable in that I played for hrs and booked a small win never really hitting anything. I was just dealt two pair, one pair, made straights etc seemingly the entire time. Winning 10-20$ a hand is a long way to a million dollars, but a win is a win. Just a weird session overall- I think it's HARDER in triple double bonus to not have long droughts/big upswings over the course of 3000 hands.

Went back yesterday and it was basically the same. Just never bad, hit a few small jackpots but nothing amazing. Never went through a long cold patch though. Eventually I was dealt quads (right around 4000 hands in) and I was up a few thousand. I didn't even take a pic bc it's just not that exciting and I was getting bored. I decided to step up briefly, let myself potentially give back a few k before booking what was likely another solid but unspectacular day. Just a few hands in, I pick up-

And I INSTANTLY move from falling asleep to wide-the-F-awake.

Kicker draw-

Spoiler

Show

Actually pretty far under expectation- I'm shy about 6k. Of course, who can complain in a situation like this?

So huge. So welcome. OK, back to the TR.

I'm up at a ridiculously early hr, as usual.

Only hit of the AM, but I didn't give much back. I think I lost 3k this AM.

J and I head to dice at Encore. We're supposed to get breakfast at Jardin at 9am and we've got about an hr. Plenty of time for a good session. Instead, we get absolutely clobbered- point out point out AGAIN! We play for all of 15 min before I rage quit. Maybe we can get seated for breakfast early. I'm now down 6k for the day. Luckily, they're able to seat us right away. I'm pretty tilted right now- WHY IS FRIDAY ALWAYS SO BAD??! I get my usual.

We head back to dice, and it's just as cold as before. JFC I can't even imagine what I'd be like had I been playing only dice this trip. Stuck and miserable, that's what. I have to play some VP- dice just isn't getting it done this trip. Stuck 8k for the day now.

I decide to change it up and play some UX. Need a lightning strike. The machine responds with dealt quads number 2!

Spoiler

Show

I mean, I'll take it but...

I think I actually manage to hold on to money that session, and head back to dice (at the Wynn) with J now stuck only 7k for the day. This was an unremarkable session, but at least we got some play. I believe I gave back 1k, and I'm now partnering with J for 40% since he's in for a significant % of his trip bankroll and he's scared money. -8k again. Back to VP.

Some good hits here! This was a good session- I put back a little too much, but I still locked in a ?6k winner. Stuck 2k for the day now. It's time for a nap. I head to the room, put the ticket in the safe and take a much-needed break.

When I wake up, I see I've got a text from my host. "Leon, they found your ID. Should be at front desk but they may have moved it to lost and found".

THE F YOU SAY!!!!!

I check my wallet- yep, obv no ID there. When in the F could I have lost that? I always keep my ID, room key and player's card in the same place in my wallet- I surmise I must have accidentally pulled out then dropped my ID at some point since I've been here. Could have been yesterday, for all I know.

I start playing what-ifs in my head- I definitely would not have had a reason to pull my ID this trip until I got to the airport. I would have shown up, realized I didn't have my ID, and then panic would have set in. It definitely would have been a major hassle and precisely what I would not want to deal with when I just want to get home. This leads me to the thought, which J and I discuss later at length- sometimes you run good and you don't even know it. I'm grateful to my host and whatever kind person/employee found the ID. I head to lost and found- minor hassle to find the ID, but I'm feeling good. I might as well be up 30k right now, I feel like I'm running hot!

I head back to VP and give back 3k. I decide to use up my remaining free credit.

About 80% payback.

J and I head to craps, AGAIN. Time to beat our heads against that wall. Surprisingly, it's a decent session, we book a small-medium winner (I think I won 2k, so stuck 3k for the day now) and I finally have my first flag of the trip.

It's time to head to FB and Komodo for dinner.

I use up the majority of my bleau points to pay for this meal. I didn't even bother trying to contact my host at FB. I suspect I've already burned them and I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to arrange a room I wouldn't use, for meal comp I didn't need, only to well and truly burn them (had zero intention of giving FB any action). Might as well use them now since eventually they'll expire anyways.

The meal itself was as expected. First time for J so he was excited. From my POV, 7-8/10 on all items except the duck- I think they outdid themselves this time. 10/10 again. On the downside, Komodo no longer has Booker's bourbon available, but they did push the BLANDon's very hard. That's not a good trend FB. Top shelf bourbon was one of the reliable draws of some of the restaurants.

After dinner, we get a ride back to Encore, assuming we'll play dice again. We see two tables- one with some room, but only with a dealer I absolutely despise. He's one of the few at Wynn/Encore that just oozes unfriendliness. I'm convinced he purposefully ignores or mishears customers a lot, he's obv happy on a 7 out and reluctantly pays out big winning bets. It's like it's his own personal money. I believe I mentioned him in a previous TR with D, I actually complained about him to his fellow dealers and ALL of them were like, "yep, that's Wayne... you should tell our boss". To which I did and the pit boss kind of just shrugged like he already knew.

Anyways, so it's play with that guy or on a table by ourselves. The tilt-control part of me knows I CAN'T play with Wayne- if we book a loser I'm sure I'll be on tilt. We head to the other table... and cut our own heads off. The only person who shoots worse than me is J, no doubt about it. I'm kinda giving him grief, stuff like "we've been coming here for years and I've NEVER seen a good roll out of you", etc. Like I can talk, and I realize that's not fair. It's true though- I've NEVER seen J put together a good roll in all the years we've gambled together. Hell, we use to low roll and shoot dice in San Diego, that's how big of a sample size I have with him. Contrast that with D, you can pretty much assume he'll have at least one decent roll per trip with him. He just runs generally warm at dice, all superstition and BS feelings aside 😀

We donk off 3k super fast and... it's back to VP again. Stuck 6k now. J heads to bed- I don't blame him.

This one was amazing, obv.

Obv I traded some punches here, but this was a great session. It seems like the lack of 4000s earlier in the day came flooding back this session. I manage to erase the day's deficit, and have clawed back to even for the day!

Day 2 result- even
Overall- -1k
Dealt quads- 2, one premium
5 digit hits- 1

Day 3 coming soon...

That one hand....22 hands and held a pair of 4's, and you hit quads with kicker...but ZERO 2 pair or trips....so weird.

Also, I suck at tossing the dice also 😀

Yeah it's really an example of "play long enough, you'll see it all". I've got 100 more- hitting a royal my very first push at a machine. Getting dealt trip aces 100 ways and missing all 100 spots. Hitting 5 out of 5 kickers when dealt premium quads. Royal on the draw after holding no cards. You name it, I've probably experienced it.

As far as dice, it's funny what selective memory and a small sample size can do. Intellectually I know it's random, and everyone can have a great roll. Everyone and simultaneously no one is "due". Sneak preview- J has a great roll later in the trip. And I know for a fact I was rolling when I hit my record of a 2000$ 10. I would have hit table max easy on another roll I had where unfortunately I wasn't betting 4 and 10 at all. I know for a fact I hit at LEAST 10 10s- that was only after I starting counting after it got so remarkable.

But yeah, I tend to roll like SHIIIT.

great write up, thanks. Brilliant hit at the local!

Of all the crazy pricing, $19 for fresh wasabi just might be the most outrageous. I guess they must import it, but there's a farm in Half Moon Bay now so you can get fresh rhizomes at the Asian markets in the Bay Area.

Eagerly awaiting epic craps roll! (I also don't bother shooting lol)

I dunno man. AFAIK fresh wasabi is pretty expensive, and it's also pretty uncommon such that there's value in paying for the novelty/experience. I'd order it.

I was an awesome shooter - in the 80's, lol. So awesome that I think I used up a lifetime of luck in those years.

I've never played craps. Which means you should fly me out to Las Vegas and ride my coattails rolling the dice for the first time in my life.

An explanation seems in order.

Back in my sports writing days, a bunch of my co-workers took me to the race track as kind of an unofficial bachelor party prior to my wedding. I had never been to a race track. When looking at the Racing Form I noticed a horse by the name of either Disinformation or Misinformation. I forget which, but either works in this story. I said, "That seems like the name of a horse a bunch of journalists should bet." We took a look and saw that the horse was going off at 99-to-1 odds. We all had a good laugh. No one bet on the horse.

The 99-to-1 long shot won the race. One of my co-workers who loved to gamble was beside himself, saying that beginner's luck is a thing in gambling and that once I made my comment he should have jumped on the 99-to-1 shot.

With that as my back story, I'm thinking my first roll at the craps table would be epic.

As someone who would like to see more gamble out of you, I'm by default in favor of this. However, I've also played enough dice that every myth of the game has been thoroughly debunked for me. Female shooters? Suck just as much as men. Virgin shooters? Ditto. Female AND first time shooters? That's supposed to be the dream scenario. I can tell you I dread those moments, bc it's no more likely they'll shoot well than anyone else BUT a) they have a fair chance of not being able to even get the dice down the table (sorry ladies, but it's true that women >>> men are out of control with their toss, all else being equal) b) they're far more likely to hoot and holler at total non-events (eg, hitting a single number) and c) far more likely to say, "wait we lost?? But how?" when they 7 out, all the chips have already been cleared and my anger is hitting its peak 😀

Day 3

I wake up pretty dang early again.

Several hits here with no kickers! Both the aces and this one would have been a handpay pre-2026.

I'm holding my own, when I get dealt quads number 3 of the trip!

Spoiler

Show

Once again, I'll take it but...

After that the machine turns ice cold. I give back all but 1k profit. I'm up 1k for the day and smack even for the trip. I text J- maybe we can grab an early breakfast. Like yesterday, our reservation at Terrace Pointe Cafe isn't until 9am, but I'm hungry now and desperate to get away from this machine for a bit. No answer- try again. No answer. Hmm, ok I'll head to the room.

It's a beautiful day. If I can ever learn to just chill in/enjoy the hotel room like my wife and some of my friends do, I'd think my roll would be doing a lot better.

I call J. No answer. Knock politely on our connecting door- no answer. Uh oh. I'm starting to get vaguely worried. He's usually up by now, and I imagine one of my efforts would have at least awoken him. I don't hear the shower going in his room or anything. Just then, he texts me "I just woke up sorry". I tell him to come over and we're able to get breakfast early. I was already wondering if I was going to have to do a wellness check on him, and what a turn of events the trip would have taken if something bad had happened to him.

That imagined-scenario out of the way, we head to Terrace Pointe cafe. We're only here bc Tableau is being renovated.

Better than last time. It's pretty hard to mess up breakfast food and I didn't order anything special. TPC had almost made my "no fly list" a few years back. At least this is passable.

Over breakfast, I tell J my results. It's really amazing- before my session I was stuck 1k and feeling optimistic. AFTER my session, I'm doing better but now I'm scared money?! It's true. I'm even, had an objectively good session including my third dealt quads and STILL I'm barely treading water. If today turns I could still be stuck 15-20k for the trip.

As awful as craps has been, I decide to hit the machines again before we play dice. Bad decision- I donk off 3k and am now stuck 2k for the day. We head back to Encore.

The table isn't great but it's survivable. On our side, there's a dude on the corner, then J, then me. Dude on the corner has just started his roll and he looks like a douche so I decide to buy in after he hits a number- I'm not waiting, I'm not going to be rude but I'm certainly not going to be ultra-respectful either. I do verbally apologize to him about jumping in and he surprises me with a "hey brother, all good. Come on in". Hmm ok. J waits a couple of rolls then he jumps in as well. That roll is decent. J is up, he sucks. I'm up, I suck.

Whole other side of the table is choppy and best can be said is we survive. Back to dude in the corner who I'm starting to realize is a legitimately nice guy. He's betting the line huge- 100-500$ line bets, which means up to 2500$ in odds depending on the number. He's placing other numbers as well, but nowhere near as large as his line bet. He puts together a legitimately good roll. Lots of points, so his placed numbers are basically as big as mine, but MAN he's killing it on the line. I think I won several K his roll, while he went from a 3k stack to 10k!

Dice pass to J. Everyone's in a good mood now. AND... J finally finds a good roll! He's just drilling points, and most of the time it's 6 and 8! I started with 120$ 6 and 8 and at my height had the 6 up to 2400$ using a press/take strategy- so I went take/240/take/480/600 (weird one here)/take/1200/take/2400. In other words, 9 sixes. Haven't had a 6 or 8 that high in a while.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, but when the dust clears J has topped the other guy by some margin. Other guy's stack is now over 25k. SO MANY POINTS.

Rail pic.

We play on- I have a decent roll, but then the table turns. I think I ended up giving back about 2k before we decide to walk. Finally had a great session, and got to play for a long time!

In for 2k, out for-

OK, so now I'm up almost 7k for the day and 6k for the trip! We head to 25c VP, I coast for a bit but never hit anything. Give back 1k. Let's get some food- we check out Red 8 but it's 1.5 HOURS wait for a table. F that. We head to the VIP lounge and just grab some snacks. After that, it's back to the machines- still icy. I give back 3k and can slowly but surely feel scared money creeping back in. JFC if I was up several K on Thurs I'd be ecstatic- why I am scared money at this point on Sat, with less than 24hrs to go??!! Up 3k for the day now, and I head to the room to sleep.

Next installment coming soon...

Amazing as always!

Two thoughts:

About scared money: I don’t think I will ever be able to go to Vegas without being scared. For my March trip I’m super over-rolled and yet I still feel a bit of anxiety. There is almost no way I can lose the entire roll. I guess this is what gambling made of us.

About the nice weather: I always feel like Vegas is too much in a way. Every single trip I tell myself, this time will be different. This time I will chill, just play at Aria and take it slowly. And every single time I end up playing at 266 different casinos and average a walking of 15-20 000 steps a day. I had days where I would force myself to stay in the room and chill but it always ends up the same way: did I really fly 16 hours each way to sit in a hotel room???

I will never be able to relax in Vegas and will never be able to not be scared money [emoji23]

Ditto. When the WSOP still had sit-n-goes I used to play mostly $75 to $175's, and even when I brought a $7k roll, I got very concerned when my losses approached $3k.

Put some money into the stock market. Then, on weekdays at least, you'll have to watch the market from 6:30 am to 1 pm while it's open. 😀

those 1k chips are filthy!

You could always wear gloves.