Greetings all. I apologize to those of you who don't like wordy reports, and welcome those of you who do. Hopefully my tale won't be boring. :)
After canceling a trip back east to visit family for Christmas, the wife and I decided to fill part of the time we had carved out in Reno. So on Friday, we got in the car and headed over Donner Pass for three free nights at Atlantis.
Neither of us had a card at Siena, and they recently upgraded their signup loss rebate to $500 (from the old $200) so after checking into the hotel we went straight to Siena. After getting my card, I scouted for the machines listed on vpFree while the wife got hers. I was not surprised to find that none of the "good" paytables exist any more. The $1 NSUD at the bar gone. The $1 and $2 9/6 JoB scattered gone. No 8/5 BP. No 9/7 DB. No 9/6 DDB. Casino was full of 97.58% Deuces, 8/5 Job, 9/5 DDB, etc.
Went to the high limit area, and sat down to play 5-play $2 DDB. My $500 lasted about 15 deals and was gone. Wife took my place and was headed down the same path. But on her lazarus hand, she held a pair of 3s and hit a quad. She cashed out $855 and we left.
Back at Atlantis for a 4x points day, we headed to the Sky Terrace for some NSUD. Over the course of several trips, I've been able to work out the Atlantis comp points for JoB, NSUD, 10/7 DB, and DBDW. And on a 4x points day, NSUD pays essentially the same as 10/7 DB with much smaller swings.
Less than 10 hands in, wife hits deuces and is $300 up. Normally she plays single-line quarters and I play $5-10 per deal (either higher denom or more lines). I'm less risk averse and am more confident with my strategy. So it's her job to have fun and my job to grind us comps and free rooms. Over the next hour, it was apparent that all the luck was with her. She stayed a couple hundred ahead, and I steadily fed money into the machine. We headed downstairs for a little 25c 10/7 DB. I got a quad on my 3rd deal and then went into tire fire mode. At one point I counted 14 losing hands in a row. I recovered a little, but when she had lost $100 in her machine, I was also down another $80.
We left to get some food, heading to Naan & Kabob across from Peppermill. Fantastic Middle Eastern food with quite an unusual chef. If you go, I strongly recommend saving room for the pistachio ice cream and baklava dessert "Awesome Dude" (which is also free if you check in on Yelp). We stop in every time we are in town.
Back at Atlantis, and back to the Sky Terrace deuces. Wife hit several nice hands, including a dealt Wild Royal and 2 dealt Five of a Kinds. Me, I was getting dealt two deuces with astonishing frequency, and consistently converting them into 3 of a kind. Wife was getting annoyed (and a bit sorry for me) as I would call out "two deuces… only trips", "two deuces… and a straight", "two deuces… only trips". By evening, we had rolled up $150 in comps and I was down almost $500. We were a bit tired from the drive, and Saturday was also a 4x points day, so there was no rush to keep going. So we called it a night.
Next morning I was downstairs at 5am and back at Sky Terrace. Early morning hours are my absolute favorite time in the casino. Quiet. Easy to concentrate. The HVAC system has a chance to catch up so the air is clean. Those early morning hours are VP bliss for me. Unfortunately the machines were not so kind. I spent two hours playing 3-play deuces (mostly at 25c 5-coin, but a few hands at 15-coin). At one point I had a dealt straight flush at 15-coins, but even with that it was still a losing morning. I also noticed multiple natural quad Aces going by (in the standard "you're playing the wrong game" taunt).
Wife came down late morning and we tried a little 10/7. After an hour we were both even, but neither of us was having fun, so we headed out. Our 24-hour clock was up at Siena, and it was time to go cash in the first segment of my $500 rebate. Siena's rebate is now $200 after 24 hours have elapsed, then $150 after the following 12:01am, then $150 after the next 12:01am. Picking between bad choices of how to cash it out, I settled in for 5-play deuces and ground my $200 into $176. Not a great result, but at that rate we would come out solidly ahead at Siena.
For Saturday lunch, we drove out to Sparks to Grimaldi's. Even though they changed their Caesar last year (from shredded to shaved Parmesan) it's still one of my favorites. And with a fridge back at Atlantis, we ordered a large and saved a couple slices for Sunday breakfast. Back at Atlantis, it was more of the same. Wife grinding successfully and still ahead. Me feeding hundreds and watching them waste away. We played DBDW for an hour or so with no 5 of a kinds between us, and you can guess the result there. I had a dealt RF4 that turned into a nice pair of 10s. A couple more hours at 10/7 and another hour back at Sky Terrace, and the wife was now down $100 at Atlantis (though still up at Siena) and I was down almost $1000 at Atlantis. We could console ourselves with the $290 in comps we had racked up in two days, but it still looked like a rough trip.
That night, I booked a spa treatment for the wife at the Atlantis spa for Sunday morning. It would be her first ever and was a late birthday present. A friend was in town and the three of us went to Atlantis Steakhouse for dinner. Service and food were great as always, at half the price I pay in SF. Even with the promise of a few hours left of 4x points, we called it an early night.
Next morning, she headed down to the spa to lounge before her appt, and I sat in the room watching football and eating cold pizza. She kept texting me every 10 minutes telling me how amazing the spa was. I had to remind her she was there to be pampered and could tell me all about it when she was done. I headed to Siena to get part 2 of the rebate. On the way out, I stopped to play $1 10/7 for a few minutes and quickly lost $200. Cursing my choice to not head straight to the car, I did just that. This time at Siena I sat down at Spin Poker for 9/5 JoB. At $11.25 a spin my $150 wasn't going to take long but I mostly wanted to get it over with. A few spins in, I was dealt a pair of sixes and converted one line into a quad. Wound up cashing out $254 on my $150, guaranteeing that the Siena rebate was going to be profitable for us.
As I headed back, I remembered I had a sportsbook ticket to cash at Peppermill from a futures bet. So after doing that, I decided I might as well play a little. We've only stayed at Peppermill once a year ago, and even though we lost several hundred, they don't give us free room offers like Atlantis does. So I figured I would throw a few hundred at them and thought I might trigger some new attention. I sat down to Spin Poker NSUD next to a sweet old lady (probably 85-90). We had a delightful chat as she played nickels and I played quarters. My initial $300 stayed virtually even for almost an hour. I switched from 5-coin to 10-coin for a while and continued bouncing, no more than $100 ahead or behind. Finally I said screw it, and switched to 10-coin 50c ($45 a spin). First spin was a push. Second spin was a $10 loss. Third spin I was dealt 3 deuces.
I stared at the screen for a bit, held the deuces, stared at the screen some more. The little old lady next to me had turned to look by now and was saying "oooooo" just as I hit Deal. One deuce on the top line, and the screen locked up. Jackpot $3150.
The handpay took forever, but the attendant was gracious enough to take a couple pictures of me next to the screen so I could share with my wife and a couple friends who play. It was only my 3rd W-2G this year, and only the 4th of my life. I haven't been playing VP that long and this is the first year I would describe it as serious.
I chose not to interrupt my wife's spa treatment. That time was supposed to be all about her. And even though I had great news to share, I wanted her to fully enjoy her girl time. So I headed back to the room at Atlantis and watched football until she returned. I let her tell me all about how amazing her time was (she literally was bouncing as she came in the room, she was so happy). And once she was done, I told her all about losing at Atlantis, barely winning at Siena, and then playing deuces dead even for a while at Peppermill. Closed by telling her "and then on my last hand I got 3 deuces, and this happened" and showed her the picture. ;)
We went to Z Pie that night for dinner, a pot pie restaurant that serves a charitable cause as well. Followed that with a movie and back to sleep. Well, for me at least. She stayed gambling downstairs until 2am, winning $80 in the process. Next morning on our way out of town, I cashed my $150 at Siena into $160.
Final tally, we lost $1150 at Atlantis, won $430 at Siena, and won $3100 at Peppermill. Couldn't have lined it up any better. The place giving us free rooms took our money (and should be happy inviting us back). The two places we didn't stay, we took theirs. :)
Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas.
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