Flight Home Over The Blue Moon

The 20th Anniversary Blue Moon Cheapstravaganaza trip was winding down.

On the last day I'd had a phenomenal run of decent sized wins and if it kept going, paying the out of pocket expense, or at least a decent portion thereof, was in sight.

I was extremely pissed at myself for losing back $360 of winnings on the last night. Just as much as I couldn't lose earlier, I couldn't win in the evening.

One of the reasons I never get tired of this game is that in the short term it is completely unpredictable.

I figure it's my challenge to try to make sense of the ups and downs, the trends, the lucky streaks - while keeping the long-term math and strategy in mind - all the while, to try to take more out of Vegas than it takes out of me.

Having a break-even trip is not easy. Having a winning trip is incredibly difficult. Sometimes it comes down to whether you have the discipline to stop playing just so that you can book the win.

So there I was, pissed. Not just pissed, but the kind of pissed a 2 year old gets when the ice cream scoop falls off the cone into the sand.

One has to take responsibility for one's actions in these situations, and I responsibly called up Jimmy Poon and tried to blame him.

"Jimmy, goddammit, I had an almost $400 lead today and blew it all back," I blubbered.

"Royal Flusher, are you crying again???..." said Jimmy Poon, serious as a heart-attack.

"No."

At least Jimmy understood the seriousness of my fuck-up.

And then I could hear that elfin high-pitched giggle, muffled. He had his hand over the phone.

"Stop laughing at me! Or I'll throw away the porn-slapper cards I collected for you."

"Flusher... you have to ask yourself - am I here to book a win, or am I here to play? What are you going to do with the rest of the night? Sit in your room watching 4 minute segments of American Greed sandwiched by 7 minutes of ads for As Seen On TV grooming products? Or are you going to take advantage of the night?"

I watched American Greed for 20 minutes. And stewed. I packed. I stewed. If I went downstairs, I'd risk having a break-even day, and a winning trip.

I grabbed a hundred bucks and headed to the casino.

So, as you read, I decided to play the high volatility crap game and managed a quad on it, to book a win for the day.

---

The next day, I got up and the same questions loomed. I showered and got everything ready to go. I even banged out a blog update.

And I took $100 and went down the the casino.

I played here and there and it was all just no good. The kind of session that eats your money. There went a good piece of my winning trip.

There I was, pounding out hand after hand of nothing, and, so help me Quad, I heard "Leaving Las Vegas" playing on the Cal sound system.

(Calling the Cal's tin-eared speakers a 'sound system' is like calling a tricycle an 'All Terrain Vehicle'. But that's another blog post.)

I had time to grab breakfast, and then haul ass upstairs and get my gear ready for the limo. They make a pretty good omelette at the Market Square.

Only ate half a piece of toast - Vegas Diet!

The whole airport thing is so old. I answered a bunch of typical questions from the limo driver. Got my stuff, tipped the driver. Got boarding passes and ran the wedgie-pull security gauntlet.

Of course, there are machines at the airport.

And I had time to kill.

So I burned through about $60 and finally got a quad on Triple Double Bonus. One of my dreams is to pull off a royal at the airport. Hasn't happened yet.

I burned through the quad trying for either a royal or Aces with kicker for $1000. But it wasn't happening. I'd ended up with three Aces and a kicker, twice. And four to a royal. And that doesn't count.

So I ate through another $160 of my win, leaving me (counting the $10 Four Queens Silver Strike coin) with a win of exactly $100 for the trip.

This is cause for celebration. I felt tired and ready to be home. Grateful that I didn't lose my shirt. Grateful for the good luck I'd had and the comps I'd gotten. Grateful that there are folks out there willing to read my ridiculous degenerate (yet cunningly savvy) drivel.

And yet, a few questions remain...

When will I be back in Vegas? I don't know.

How much weight did I gain (or lose!!!!) on the Royal Flusher Vegas Diet?

Why do I play keno?

Am I some kind of fucking idiot?

Don't answer the last one. Jimmy Poon will answer it for you.

---

Some stats:

	Stake	Have	Win/Lose	Trip
Tues 20	300	400	100	100
Wed 21	600	100	-500	-400
Thu 22	600	550	-50	-450
Fri 23	400	900	500	50
Sat 24	580	0	-580	-530
Sun 25	320	200	-120	-650
Mon	640	1000	360	-290
Tue	460	0	-460	-750
Wed	400	860	460	-290
Thu	600	0	-600	-890
Fri	240	900	660	-230
Sat 24	400	0	-400	-630
Sun	400	1070	670	40
Mon	200	360	160	200
Tue	200	260	60	260
Wed	170	0	-160	100
Win of $100.00 this trip.

As you can see, winning and losing days roughly alternated. This is a good thing.

Here's the comps I got - I valued the rooms at what I would pay out of pocket for them.

Comps	Aug 20/2013 to Sep 4/2013
20-22	MSS 3 nights	150
Tues	Cal 2's company	5
Wed	MSS Buffet Lunch	10
Wed	Pasta Pirate	20
Thu	Lunch buffet	10
Thu	dinner buffet	14
Fri	Magnolias	10
23-24	FQ room	100
Fri	FQ Freeplay	30
Fri	FQ QQQQ Bonus	75
Sat	FQ Freeplay (K)	80
Sat	The D Freeplay	5
25-27	Encore Room	450
Mon	Magnolias comps	22
Mon	FQ Cashback	31
Mon	Wynn freeplay	32
28-29	MGM Suite	250
Wed	MGM comp	50
Thu	MGM Express	12
Fri	MGM Freeplay	25
Fri	MGM complaint	$56
30-04	Cal room comp	250
30-04	Cal food	200
Fri	Cranberry juice pts	4
Fri	Royal t-shirt	10
Sat	Pasta Pirate	20
	Lattes pts	12
Tues	Redwood	40

Total: $1,973

I paid out of pocket $700 for airfare (thanks, Air FU Canada), $300 for the rental car, $150 or so for Encore meals (hi Allison!), and about $12,000 in cocktail waitress tips.

So what's next?

Well, next up, I'm going to maybe do a Q&A based on comments and emails I got, and I have Linda Boyd's book The Video Poker Edge to review, so c'mon back for that!

Yours savvily,

Royal Flusher