There was a time not long ago when Nancy and I hit Vegas 5 times a year. We
made it once last year. Other places compete for my gambling efforts.

stiff arms me. Stuff happens. Vegas isn t a given anymore. We made that

west from Chicago again last month.


Transportation


Air: We flew American out of O Hare. Free flights courtesy of credit card
rewards and FC upgrades with AA frequent flyer miles. Getting into or out

hare has become a real crapshoot. Late on our departure and over 3 hours

on our return flight. Any approaching weather system and ATC slows things

to a crawl. If it s a decent sized weather system a lot of flights just get
cancelled. Note: Free WiFi is available in McCarran, at least at D gates.


Ground: We drove in to short term at O Hare. No rental in Vegas this

We used a total of 3 cabbies. All good natured, honest and, by all outward
appearances, sane. I think it s snowing in Hell. Pretty nice not to have to
spend the extra time picking up and dropping off a rental, but it does limit
your options while in town.



Hotels


The first 2 nights are spent at Caesars and the second 2 nights are at Wynn.


Caesars: Caesars ain t showing us the love that she once did. I haven t
gambled a Harrah s LV property in a very long time and the few times I have

on property to play poker tournaments I have probably been tripped because

make you show a players card to buy in. Goodbye ADT. We re usually good

sharp Augustus Tower room, but we get a remodeled Forum Tower room this

It s a decent room --new furnishings, electronic drapery, flat panel

in bathroom mirror, but no jetted tub. Apparently we are on one of only two
completed Forum Tower floors. This may well be our last hurrah at Caesars.
There s no video poker left for me to play and work my comp magic here and I
sure as hell won t be shelling out cash for a room.


Wynn: It s my first visit here and I likey. The rooms have floor to ceiling
windows and we have an extraordinary view of the Strip. It would have been

extraordinary if Adelson hadn t rudely inserted the Palazzo across the

The room is awash in pastels with splashes of bright color. Flat panel

in room and bathroom, large unjetted tub, fax machine, electronic drapery,

down service, robes, slippers and assorted other goodies.


OTOH, it has become apparent that I don t belong here. During the first 24
hours of my stay I have several John Travolta/Pulp Fiction, that s a $5

moments.

Nancy and I waiting in line at their Deli

Me: That s $6 for a bag of potato chips?

Nancy: Yes.

Me: And they re not deep fried in truffle oil or sprinkled with caviar?

Nancy: You know I don t like caviar.

Me: Right . And $14 for a corned beef sandwich?

Nancy: Yes, it comes with a pickle.

Me: Ahh, that explains it.




Dining


Not a lot of fine dining this trip. Mostly delis and coffee shops.


Augustus Café: Bleh. Over priced and unimpressive. They served one of the
stranger versions of fish and chips I ve had. Wedges of baked potatoes

and deep fried with fish sticks?


Victorian Room: This was once one of those classic Vegas casino coffee

Barbary Coast. It fed a lot of gamblers simple food at inexpensive prices
during all hours. The specials ain t so special anymore. The food and

haven t improved either. The only reason I can think of to come here now is

Chinese mustard that s so spicy it makes you cry.


Mon Ami Gabi: We ve eaten and imbibed here many times over the years. Lunch
consisted of sausage, horseradish mustard and caramelized onions on a

with frites, a Stella Artois and a pleasant view of the B s fountains . All

not much more than a meal at one of the previously mentioned coffee shops.



Wynn Café: Had a good lobster eggs benedict here one morning. Not quite as
good as Blue Heaven in Key West, but very nice.


Zoozacrackers: It s like a deli, but more expensive. The Reuben was OK and

came with a pickle. They had diet cream soda.


Café Babareeba: It s a tapas place in the Fashion Show. Like Mon Ami, a
Lettuce Entertain You restaurant that has a clone in Chicago.




Gambling


Poker

I played about 13 hours of $1/$3 NLHE at Caesars, Wynn and TI. I managed to
grind out a net of +$300 with no losing sessions. I played a tight
unimaginative game of ABC poker and concentrated on not making any major

ups. I m sure I m sometimes leaving EV on the table, but after a dismal
performance during a trip last summer I just wanted to plug some major holes

my game. My play was just fine against most of the tourists I was up

I also played about 15 hours of tournament poker over 4 events without a

I did the 7PM at Caesars twice, the noon at Venetian and made a late and very
brief entry into the second level of a fast TI tournament. Pretty annoying

go 4 or 5 hours deep into several tournaments and not cash anywhere.


I made some errors. UTG with M of maybe 14 makes a 3 BB raise to me, UTG+1

an M of about 10. Had I been thinking I would have folded my as the UTG

likely indicates a strong hand that my AQ doesn t do well against and won t
likely fold, but I push and run up against QQ. Adios, time to see what the

gods have in store for me. Other times I just got unlucky. Shortstack in MP
with maybe 4 BB pushes. Action goes to big stack in LP who raises all in to
isolate. In BB I wake up with JJ and push my 12M stack in to call. Short

shows A4, Big stack shows 99 and I see I just have to dodge 5 outs. I say
looks good which is the kiss of death as a 9 comes on the flop. Adios, time
for dinner.


I really enjoy tournaments and have been playing some low buy in S&Gs online
well enough to double my modest stake, but I m really going to have to work

changing gears in a bigger field and scratching out more ev with steals and
aggression. The SNG environment forces you to change gears rapidly,

increasing aggression during the course of play. The lines are often not so
clear cut (at least to me) in a larger field tournament. I ve got some work

do.




Video Poker

I ve been a reasonably competent vp player for several years now though I ve

a lot less practice to keep up my chops over the last year or so. Still, I

play an accurate JB strategy in my sleep and these days that is likely to be

best opportunity I run into on the Strip.


I give Caesars and the other Harrah s properties zero action. There s

to work that s even a decent comp hound play. I ll keep on taking what works
for me in marketing offers until they wise up, but I ve decided to cut

LV properties loose.


After breakfast on the second day Nancy and I take a walk down to Planet
Hollywood. I look in on the poker room and goof on some Sopranos slots for a
little bit, but after that I m basically pushing buttons and looking at
paytables for the next 45 minutes or so while Nancy makes some really bad
playing decisions.


I m basically killing time and hoping I might find something reasonable to

to see what PH marketing does when I run into a $1 progressive. The prog

t have any kind of display and you have to touch the screen to see what it

Best paytables at reset are in the area of 98%, but the progressive on the

here is at $9500 and change.



I have been estimating ER of progressive royal games by adding .5 to the

for every extra 1000 credits on the meter. I decrease ER by 1% off of base
return for each credit the FH or flush has been shorted. This has been

fine, but it was brought to my attention on a forum recently that my

were unacceptably short when royals got exceptionally high. The 7/5 BP base
game brought in an estimated 98% and my old method of ball parking ER would

brought return up to 100.75%. I goosed my estimate by .25 and was still shy

a couple of tenths when I checked later on the laptop. Add CB and I was
estimating hourly expectation between $60 and $75.


Most cognizant vp players know that this is just one of many ways to

play. These expectations work themselves out over many, many thousands of
hands. I m more of a grinder really and so much of return is jammed up in

royal, but I wasn t likely to find anything better on the Strip and I

from previous progressive play most of the strategy changes required to

ev. I took my shot at a pretty good play and prepared to take a minor
drubbing. The level of detail probably clues you in; I pop the royal after
about 1 hour of play. A very standard 3RF over 4Straight hold. Actual

was $9527 per hour of play. And that is video poker in a nutshell.


All remaining vp sessions are anticlimactic after that. I give Palazzo some

JB action to see if marketing brings anything and the rest of my action I

to Wynn. I played the 2 7/5 BP quarter progs as they approached 100% and the
rest went into the $1 JB slant tops. Kind of curious to see how they market

midrollers.



Free Crap


Free crap is a gambling tourist s best friend. Any gambler who doesn t work
promotions and comps is giving money to the casino and there s something just
plain wrong about that.


2 Free nights Caesars

$1200 Macy s GC courtesy of Caesars

$100 Free Play from Wynn Marketing

$120 Earned Free Play at Wynn

4 free Wynn buffets (to be used later)

2 Free nights Wynn (originally in on a $119 per night marketing offer) based

a bit more than 50K CI.






Observations



Usually this is the point in the trip report where I wrap things up by waxing
philosophical or letting my inner Hemingway out for a lap around the page,

we re at that point in a Great Lakes winter when I give serious

gnawing on the business end of a 12 guage. 10 more inches of snow predicted
tonight . I think I m just going to make a few random, and very possibly

observations.


The state of video poker on and near the Strip is at the lowest point I have
ever seen it. The number of opportunities even for the tourist, who tends to
make more allowances for comped amenities, is pretty slim. High prices, bad
games. Am I beginning to sound like one of those whiny days-of-yore gamblers
droning on about how sweet the pickings were in the old days? Well, give me

few more years, dammit. I wasn t even part of the good old days. Downtown
Las Vegas, Reno, Tunica, Laughlin, the Gulf Coast and here to fore unexplored
venues will continue to get more attention from me. Is there pick em in
Pahrump?


There is money to be made playing poker on the Strip. Whether I can make it

another question entirely. Annie Duke is making money. At $1700 a pop Annie
was hosting some sort of ladies poker seminar at Caesars while I was there,

I swear I saw Bigler and some guy who won a PLO bracelet last year. I took

stack of a lady who had just been charmed to meet Annie at the seminar in a
tournament at Caesars. She may have to pay another $1700 to learn not to

AK like AA.

I m finding poker and video poker a yin and yang experience. Totally

kinds of concentration required. VP is an essentially solitary experience

you have to deal with people playing poker. The game kind of dries up if

s no one else at the table. Sometimes this is very pleasant. Other times .
With VP I don t have to deal with some kid whining that someone actually

his push with 6, 4 off suit or a relentlessly happy Aussie. And the vp

never slow rolls me. When it s in the mood it kicks my butt with a quick
mechanical efficiency. And, strangely, I m more proud of my meager poker
accomplishments than I am with my far larger vp wins. A cash in one of those
tournaments, regardless of the amount, would have easily eclipsed that $9500
royal in my mind. It ain t all about the Benjamins, I guess.

Chandler

There was a time not long ago when Nancy and I hit Vegas 5 times a year.  We
made it once last year.  Other places compete for my gambling efforts. 

stiff arms me.  Stuff happens.  Vegas isn t a given anymore.  We made that

west from Chicago again last month.
 

Transportation
 

Air:  We flew American out of O Hare.  Free flights courtesy of credit card
rewards and FC upgrades with AA frequent flyer miles.  Getting into or out

hare has become a real crapshoot.  Late on our departure and over 3 hours

on our return flight.  Any approaching weather system and ATC slows things

to a crawl.  If it s a decent sized weather system a lot of flights just get
cancelled.  Note:  Free WiFi is available in McCarran, at least at D gates.
 

Ground:  We drove in to short term at O Hare.  No rental in Vegas this

We used a total of 3 cabbies.  All good natured, honest and, by all outward
appearances, sane.  I think it s snowing in Hell.  Pretty nice not to have to
spend the extra time picking up and dropping off a rental, but it does limit
your options while in town.
 
 

Hotels
 

The first 2 nights are spent at Caesars and the second 2 nights are at Wynn.
 

Caesars:  Caesars ain t showing us the love that she once did.  I haven t
gambled a Harrah s LV property in a very long time and the few times I have

on property to play poker tournaments I have probably been tripped because

make you show a players card to buy in.  Goodbye ADT.  We re usually good

sharp Augustus Tower room, but we get a remodeled Forum Tower room this

It s a decent room --new furnishings, electronic drapery, flat panel

in bathroom mirror, but no jetted tub.  Apparently we are on one of only two
completed Forum Tower floors.  This may well be our last hurrah at Caesars. 
There s no video poker left for me to play and work my comp magic here and I
sure as hell won t be shelling out cash for a room.
 

Wynn:  It s my first visit here and I likey.  The rooms have floor to ceiling
windows and we have an extraordinary view of the Strip.  It would have been

extraordinary if Adelson hadn t rudely inserted the Palazzo across the

The room is awash in pastels with splashes of bright color.  Flat panel

in room and bathroom, large unjetted tub, fax machine, electronic drapery,

down service, robes, slippers and assorted other goodies.
 

OTOH, it has become apparent that I don t belong here.  During the first 24
hours of my stay I have several John Travolta/Pulp Fiction, that s a $5

moments.

Nancy and I waiting in line at their Deli

Me:  That s $6 for a bag of potato chips?

Nancy:  Yes.

Me:  And they re not deep fried in truffle oil or sprinkled with caviar?

Nancy:  You know I don t like caviar.

Me:  Right .  And $14 for a corned beef sandwich?

Nancy:  Yes, it comes with a pickle.

Me:  Ahh, that explains it.
 
 
 

Dining
 

Not a lot of fine dining this trip.  Mostly delis and coffee shops.
 

Augustus Café:  Bleh.  Over priced and unimpressive.  They served one of the
stranger versions of fish and chips I ve had.  Wedges of baked potatoes

and deep fried with fish sticks?
 

Victorian Room:  This was once one of those classic Vegas casino coffee

Barbary Coast.  It fed a lot of gamblers simple food at inexpensive prices
during all hours.  The specials ain t so special anymore.  The food and

haven t improved either.  The only reason I can think of to come here now is

Chinese mustard that s so spicy it makes you cry.
 

Mon Ami Gabi:  We ve eaten and imbibed here many times over the years.  Lunch
consisted of sausage, horseradish mustard and caramelized onions on a

with frites, a Stella Artois and a pleasant view of the B s fountains .  All

not much more than a meal at one of the previously mentioned coffee shops.
 
 

Wynn Café:  Had a good lobster eggs benedict here one morning.  Not quite as
good as Blue Heaven in Key West, but very nice.
 

Zoozacrackers:  It s like a deli, but more expensive.  The Reuben was OK and

came with a pickle.  They had diet cream soda.
 

Café Babareeba:  It s a tapas place in the Fashion Show.  Like Mon Ami, a
Lettuce Entertain You restaurant that has a clone in Chicago. 
 
 
 

Gambling
 

Poker

I played about 13 hours of $1/$3 NLHE at Caesars, Wynn and TI.  I managed to
grind out a net of +$300 with no losing sessions.  I played a tight
unimaginative game of ABC poker and concentrated on not making any major

ups.  I m sure I m sometimes leaving EV on the table, but after a dismal
performance during a trip last summer I just wanted to plug some major holes

my game.  My play was just fine against most of the tourists I was up

 

I also played about 15 hours of tournament poker over 4 events without a

I did the 7PM at Caesars twice, the noon at Venetian and made a late and very
brief entry into the second level of a fast TI tournament.  Pretty annoying

go 4 or 5 hours deep into several tournaments and not cash anywhere.
 

I made some errors.  UTG with M of maybe 14 makes a 3 BB raise to me, UTG+1

an M of about 10.  Had I been thinking I would have folded my as the UTG

likely indicates a strong hand that my AQ doesn t do well against and won t
likely fold, but I push and run up against QQ.  Adios, time to see what the

gods have in store for me.  Other times I just got unlucky.  Shortstack in MP
with maybe 4 BB pushes.  Action goes to big stack in LP who raises all in to
isolate.  In BB I wake up with JJ and push my 12M stack in to call.  Short

shows A4, Big stack shows 99  and I see I just have to dodge 5 outs.  I say
looks good which is the kiss of death as a 9 comes on the flop.  Adios, time
for dinner.
 

I really enjoy tournaments and have been playing some low buy in S&Gs online
well enough to double my modest stake, but I m really going to have to work

changing gears in a bigger field and scratching out more ev with steals and
aggression.  The SNG environment forces you to change gears rapidly,

increasing aggression during the course of play.  The lines are often not so
clear cut (at least to me) in a larger field tournament.  I ve got some work

do.
 
 
 

Video Poker

I ve been a reasonably competent vp player for several years now though I ve

a lot less practice to keep up my chops over the last year or so.  Still, I

play an accurate JB strategy in my sleep and these days that is likely to be

best opportunity I run into on the Strip. 
 

I give Caesars and the other Harrah s properties zero action.  There s

to work that s even a decent comp hound play.  I ll keep on taking what works
for me in marketing offers until they wise up, but I ve decided to cut

LV properties loose.
 

After breakfast on the second day Nancy and I take a walk down to Planet
Hollywood.  I look in on the poker room and goof on some Sopranos slots for a
little bit, but after that I m basically pushing buttons and looking at
paytables for the next 45 minutes or so while Nancy makes some really bad
playing decisions. 
 

I m basically killing time and hoping I might find something reasonable to

to see what PH marketing does when I run into a $1 progressive.  The prog

t have any kind of display and you have to touch the screen to see what it

Best paytables at reset are in the area of 98%, but the progressive on the

here is at $9500 and change.
 
 

I have been estimating ER of progressive royal games by adding .5 to the

for every extra 1000 credits on the meter.  I decrease ER by 1% off of base
return for each credit the FH or flush has been shorted. This has been

fine, but it was brought to my attention on a forum recently that my

were unacceptably short when royals got exceptionally high.  The 7/5 BP base
game brought in an estimated 98% and my old method of ball parking ER would

brought return up to 100.75%.  I goosed my estimate by .25 and was still shy

a couple of tenths when I checked later on the laptop.  Add CB and I was
estimating hourly expectation between $60 and $75.
 

 Most cognizant vp players know that this is just one of many ways to

play. These expectations work themselves out over many, many thousands of
hands.  I m more of a grinder really and so much of return is jammed up in

royal, but I wasn t likely to find anything better on the Strip and I

from previous progressive play most of the strategy changes required to

ev.  I took my shot at a pretty good play and prepared to take a minor
drubbing.  The level of detail probably clues you in;  I pop the royal after
about 1 hour of play.  A very standard 3RF over 4Straight hold.  Actual

was $9527 per hour of play.  And that is video poker in a nutshell.
 

All remaining vp sessions are anticlimactic after that.  I give Palazzo some

JB action to see if marketing brings anything and the rest of my action I

to Wynn.  I played the 2 7/5 BP quarter progs as they approached 100% and the
rest went into the $1 JB slant tops.  Kind of curious to see how they market

midrollers.
 
 

Free Crap
 

Free crap is a gambling tourist s best friend.  Any gambler who doesn t work
promotions and comps is giving money to the casino and there s something just
plain wrong about that.
 

2 Free nights Caesars

$1200 Macy s GC courtesy of Caesars

$100 Free Play from Wynn Marketing

$120 Earned Free Play at Wynn

4 free Wynn buffets (to be used later)

2 Free nights Wynn (originally in on a $119 per night marketing offer) based

a bit more than 50K CI.
 
 
 
 
 

Observations
 
 

Usually this is the point in the trip report where I wrap things up by waxing
philosophical or letting my inner Hemingway out for a lap around the page,

we re at that point in a Great Lakes winter when I give serious

gnawing on the business end of a 12 guage.  10 more inches of snow predicted
tonight .  I think I m just going to make a few random, and very possibly

observations.
 

The state of video poker on and near the Strip is at the lowest point I have
ever seen it.  The number of opportunities even for the tourist, who tends to
make more allowances for comped amenities, is pretty slim.  High prices, bad
games.  Am I beginning to sound like one of those whiny days-of-yore gamblers
droning on about how sweet the pickings were in the old days?  Well, give me

few more years, dammit.  I wasn t even part of the good old days.  Downtown
Las Vegas, Reno, Tunica, Laughlin, the Gulf Coast and here to fore unexplored
venues will continue to get more attention from me.  Is there pick em in
Pahrump?
 

There is money to be made playing poker on the Strip.  Whether I can make it

another question entirely.  Annie Duke is making money.  At $1700 a pop Annie
was hosting some sort of ladies poker seminar at Caesars while I was there,

I swear I saw Bigler and some guy who won a PLO bracelet last year.  I took

stack of a lady who had just been charmed to meet Annie at the seminar in a
tournament at Caesars.  She may have to pay another $1700 to learn not to

AK like AA.
 
I m finding poker and video poker a yin and yang experience.  Totally

kinds of concentration required.  VP is an essentially solitary experience

you have to deal with people playing poker.  The game kind of dries up if

s no one else at the table.  Sometimes this is very pleasant.  Other times . 
With VP  I don t have to deal with some kid whining that someone actually

his push with 6, 4 off suit or a relentlessly happy Aussie.  And the vp

never slow rolls me.  When it s in the mood it kicks my butt with a quick
mechanical efficiency.  And, strangely, I m more proud of my meager poker
accomplishments than I am with my far larger vp wins.  A cash in one of those
tournaments, regardless of the amount, would have easily eclipsed that $9500
royal in my mind.  It ain t all about the Benjamins, I guess.

Chandler