Great report miss craps, as usual.
"I noticed a
$5 Top Dollar, one of my favorite slots, and played a few hands. "
I don't play that game, but I overheard a slot player the other day with
his buddy. He told the other guy "I'm an expert at this game, always accept
the first offer, for in the long run you wont do better than that one"..any
truth to this ?
best...Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: <misscraps@aol.com>
To: <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 5:02 PM
Subject: [vpFREE] trip report Reno Atlantis and Harrahs Tahoe
> Recently we went to Reno's Atlantis Hotel for one night. Whether we
> lucked out because we arrived midweek, or my host took pity on me (because
> on
> the previous trip I lost a lot of $ and also had my purse stolen...long
> story
> but I got it and most of contents back after a day when it was dumped
> outside somewhere).... but somehow they put us into a H U G E, and I
> mean G I
> G A N T I C suite. It was probably the square footage of my house (2600
> sq ft or something like that), with an extremely long living room area
> that
> contained a pool table, chess table, pocket billiards table, huge sofa,
> bar, a bed, poker table, bathroom, etc. Also a separate bedroom with a
> big
> bed, another couch, and a HUGE jacuzzi (big enough for maybe 8 people),
> and
> bathroom. Two refrigerators (one in each room), stocked with V8, soda,
> water, etc - help yourself. A host told me it was the largest suite in
> the
> hotel. Wow. It was the largest suite we've ever been given.
>
> Then they treated us to a winemakers dinner event in Bistro Napa. This
> was a real bargain for those who had to pay ($125 pp), but even more of a
> bargain for us with a comp. The food was excellent (5 courses), and each
> course paired with a different delicious wine. The winemaker (Justin
> Vineyards)appeared and spoke a little with information on the wines. The
> Atlantis
> holds these dinners every month, and I recommend them (the next is a
> Bacardi
> Rum dinner on May 31, $85 pp, phone 775-824-4411 for details).
>
> We were impressed with the large size of the Atlantis, and all the
> machines. Most, if not all, the VP machines, seemed to be of the 10 coin
> variety.
> It took me awhile to adjust to this. If you normally play $1 machines,
> you should play 50 cent, and so on. There were many many machines of
> different types all around, and some were progressives. I didn't check
> all that
> many machines, but I didn't notice any 9/6 JB or other FP machines,
> though
> they may have existed. The club also has a special "swipe" machine,
> where
> you should swipe daily to see if there is a point multiplier or other
> promotion. Since we were there on March 31, I just missed getting $300
> free
> play for my monthly offer.
>
> I wandered around, playing a bit, trying to avoid the machines where I'd
> lost $ on a previous visit, and noticed a single line progressive with
> over
> $9800 on the meter. I sat down and realized it was a $1 progressive, with
> the $9800 for the 10 coin in. I felt "drawn to" the machine (ESP
> feeling
> which usually doesn't work by the way...) so decided to try it on DDB
> (9/6)
> for awhile. I quickly got a quad ($500 instead of the usual $250), so
> now
> had enough profit to keep playing awhile. Kept playing, more quads,
> enough to keep me going, and then, holding 3 to a royal, wham -- beautiful
> hearts and one of the biggest royals I've ever had! I'm so happy....but
> happiness can be fleeting for a gambler.....
>
>
> For a change I decided to leave the machine quickly, rather than putting
> back $ as I usually do, and wandered around, plunking money in and out of
> a
> few machines (I'm usually a sit-and-stay-for-4-hours person....),
> eventually
> I found the "high roller" lounge area, which had some nice snacks set out
> (now getting a little peckish hours after the huge winemakers
> dinner...hardly any wine for me, by the way, since I was planning to
> gamble, but my
> husband had tottled off to bed after the dinner feeling no pain). I
> noticed a
> $5 Top Dollar, one of my favorite slots, and played a few hands. Next to
> it was a multigame machine I'd never seen before with some sort of a Hot
> Roll bonus where you "threw" "dice" for a bonus. I switched over and
> started
> to play, and play and play. The bonuses kept rolling in every few
> minutes,
> giving me $ to keep me going. It was really fun, and I managed to win a
> little.
>
> The Atlantis has many restaurants and a big spa, as well as an indoor
> pool. Very nice place.
>
> But the next day (we only had 1 night there), we headed to Lake Tahoe's
> Harrah's/Harvey's for a special "play up" promotion. Play 5600 points,
> get
> $800 in free play (but it turned out you had to play twice as much for
> VP -
> argh!). Play higher levels, get more free play - enticing -- and you
> keep
> your points for comps. And they had already sent along a $400 coupon to
> insert in a machine for free play.
> I arrive at Tahoe with most of my $9800 win intact, raring to go!
>
> We prefer to stay in Harvey's, because the rooms have the better view of
> the Lake. A Harrah's limo picked us up from the Atlantis and took us
> there. Both my husband and I are 7* members, so we had asked our host for
> a
> suite overlooking the lake, and got a beautiful room with a balcony in
> Harvey's. My husband LOVES the Lake, and spent hours sitting and standing
> and
> watching the Lake. The view was great on the first night, but suddenly
> (as
> often happens) a storm blew in, along with snow, it was like a blizzard!
> Fortunately there is a tunnel connecting Harvey's to Harrah's, so you
> never
> have to go outside. Thankfully the storm ended in time for us to return
> to
> the Reno airport.
>
> The host also arranged to send some soda to the room, which was good, and
> sent a basket with a few goodies and a bottle of California wine. Nice.
>
> While hubby watched the Lake, naturally I headed to Harrah's, where I knew
> they had 3/5 play $1 machines with 9/6 DDB and JB. The ones in the high
> roller area were extremely popular, and people often locked them up for
> hours
> at a time. I found an empty one near the bar, and started to play $1 5-
> play DDB. Of course after the big win in Reno, I had no fear -- at
> first --
> but as I plunked in my $400 free play voucher and then about $2000-2500
> more -- and got NO QUADS -- fear started! The guy sitting next to me,
> who
> was losing at 9/6 JB, left, so I switched machines. Normally I
> stubbornly
> keep playing, even a bad machine, figuring "it will change" - but machine
> #1
> had to be the worst ever! So I switch to machine #2, playing 9/6 DDB,
> and
> it too started sucking and sucking and sucking -- finally boom - a royal
> flush ($4000), but I was still down over $3000 for the two machines.
> Argh!
> I slunk off to bed at last.
>
> The next day the onslaught of bad machines continued. I figured the
> "play
> up" promotion was a good one to get me to 7* status for 2012, and I still
> had Reno money in my pocket, so I played on and on, passing the $800 in
> free
> money point and heading to the $1000 then the $1500 etc. But I kept
> losing and losing. I got Aces with the kicker ($2000) somewhere in
> there, but
> quads overall were just lacking. It was hard to find a machine if you
> left, because 2 of the machines were constantly busy or locked up. I
> tried a
> bit on $5 progressive (this was the progressive where on my last trip to
> Tahoe I had hit for 2 royal flushes - my biggest win ever for a trip),
> but this
> time, nothing - no deuces playing deuces (75/45 version), not even a wild
> royal, no quads playing DDB. Back to 3/5 $1 play - losing. I took a
> respite and played "penny" machine The Hangover, and managed not to lose
> anything on it, then back to VP - losing.
>
> Well you guessed it, by the time we left Tahoe after 3 days, my $9800 win
> from Reno was gone, and so was another $5000 -- this despite having
> various
> free play coupons and the playup freeplay of $3000. One of my worst
> losing
> trips ever if you counted all the Reno money that disappeared as well as
> free play. But I had earned enough for 7*
> status....woopie....(not)....
>
> Well, another play-up offer has just appeared for Tahoe for May 1 -- nope,
> don't think we will go. VP must be the most volatile game ever!
>
> A few notes on food in Tahoe -- strangely there are 3 very similar
> steakhouses to choose from. Kitchen 19 in Harvey's has a great view of
> the Lake,
> but unless you are there in summer, the sun will go down too soon to do
> you much good. Harrah's has a similar steakhouse on its top floor.
> Harvey's
> also has The Sage, which features some old-fashioned table side cooking
> of
> some salads and entrees and deserts, and is thus probably the best one of
> the three. Harrah's also has a Chinese restaurant (not open all nights),
> but we had a bad experience on the last trip with Peking Duck, so didn't
> try
> it this time. Harrah's comp points are not usable at the Hard Rock
> restaurant in Harvey's. There is a good deli there though. The buffet
> at
> Harrah's is also on the top floor, and is quite good (though sometimes
> not open
> for breakfast). Their coffee shop is quite good (down in the basement).
> Harrah's also has a mini food court, but comps cannot be used.
>
> While it may be that theoretically VP is a better game than slots or most
> table games for the player, the truth is that the volatility can be a
> killer, and it does seem like I (and friends too) are getting fewer quads
> than we
> used to get.
>
>
