At Sixes and Nines

Day 5 Sunday Dec 24th and somehow, about halfway through the trip, I'm only down a few bucks.

Seems I keep losing it on video poker and slots and winning it back on video keno - although I have had a few nice hits on the VP. But the big hands are eluding me and I'd really like to get some Royals this trip!

The day started very innocently enough. I'd done my blogging yesterday so I could relax a bit more in the morning.

The Little Giant worked its magic, and after doing my online stuff, I headed down for breakfast.

I ordered my usual two over hard with sausage, hash browns, and wheat toast. 

I suppose I could even re-use the same photo of breakfast over and over each day, it's always the same order.

I decided to start the day trying to get that Royal. I'd play lower volatility Bonus Poker and I'd be very careful about parlaying.

Flashy seemed to be the right choice. The older uprights just seem to play better to me than the slant tops - I'm not saying the end results are any better percentage-wise, but they seem to be less volatile.

And I did have a decent play and even got a quad, so it was nice to have that out of the way. Quad drought broken.

That machine is takin' a lickin!

I managed to play for about three quarters of an hour on my first twenty but finally drained out.

Fair enough, I wandered over to Shockwave, which has been playing well for me this trip. And it sure would be nice to get a Shockwave quad for a grand!

Well, it decided to bestow a gift onto me. AND I got a quad and got into Shockwave mode.

Dealt straight flush, which pays 500 credits on Shockwave. Nice!

If you get two quads in 10 hands on Shockwave, the second quad pays 4000 credits. I was even dealt three of a kind on one of the 10 hands, but couldn't complete. It was fun, and at least I got a shot at it.

After that I played some video keno, and then bounced around trying a variety of machines... and nothing was clicking.

I took a break in the room, showering and shaving and getting a change of clothes - my new Savvy 4 Ever shirt, courtesy of Bobby G. Maybe it would be lucky.

It was Christmas Eve Day and things were on my mind. More sunlight was needed to help my mood, that was probably part of it, so like yesterday I hatched a plan to get out.

My bright (heh heh) idea was to do a casino crawl of the downtown properties. Play a twenty in each casino, double or nothing.

So far on the trip, my daily budget has typically been $200, which is not a lot - but fortunately I've had fortunate luck to help my fortunes. On some days I've taken $300 because there are at least decent machines to play downtown.

But I was already over half my $300 so I stashed an extra hundy in my wallet - just in case. Maybe today would be the day the spell got broken and I would dump a shit ton of cash.

I headed out, first stop Circa.

First of all, I still don't know what's up with Circa security demanding and scanning your ID at the door. I don't know why they need this, I find it obtrusive, there is no indication of the reason for it, and I don't know what they do with the information.

There's got to be a really good reason for me to go into that place. Today's reason was to gamble.

The 50 cent Bonus Poker machines seemed like a good idea, but because of football, I couldn't get close, so I settled on some weird variant of Bufffffffalo!!!! where the buffaloes look like that head Ape Dr Zaius in the original Planet of the Apes.

My $20 lasted about 90 seconds.

Friggin Buffalo Thief Platinum.

Next stop, the Plaza, where I had an ancient Game King in mind.

The outside looks great and the inside looks - more and more strip-like every time I visit. Where there were two or three rows of Game Kings to play video poker on, now there are one.

Full pay Boner Deluxe was my poison, and it poisoned me. With nothing. I guess that's good?

For good measure, I played this really old school video slot called Wild Orchid, that Dr. Shiboubou raves about. It ate $20 in 90 seconds. Works for him, I've seen it. Not for me.

I crossed back over Main Street to the Golden Gate, where they've managed to eradicate just about all of the old school charm that was left. I'm cranky about it. 

Hell, I'm just plain cranky. Crankypants. Cranky McCrankface.

I know the great Shining Tower of Buffalo was there before the latest changes, but now the entire Gate looks like that. I wish they'd take ID so I could stay out of the place - I miss the old rundown version and the coffee shop so much!

Realizing I'd covered just one block of my casino crawl and was down $80, with great trepidation and thoughts of bailing out, I entered the Smug Nugget, which is full of people who are about 54 years old and have recently 'made it'. They have money, finally, and throw it around the Nugget.

Following their lead, I played dollar video poker, $20 worth, maybe the second time I've played dollars this trip? 

The results? Spectacular in their devastation.

This casino crawl was a terrible, degenerate idea and I should have known I'd lose.

Across the street to Binions.

Credit 0 was starting to look very familiar.

I really wanted to quit at this point, but I'd said I was gonna do this (on the platform previously known as Twitter) and if I said I was gonna do it, then I was gonna see it out to the end.

But first, free lunch at Binion's Cafe on the last of my Four Queen's comp dollars from so many years ago when I used to camp out at the bars there.

Country Throw-up Gravy was on the menu, and I went for it.

CTUG in all its gory.

These little cornbread muffins were tasty, but microwaved and hard as rock. I managed one nibble.

Next stop, the Four Queens. I played some stupid fucking slot.

Another $20 gone, and now I was into my emergency stake, down $300 on the day.

I trudged into the now ruined Fremont, which has removed all the good video poker including my favorites, and looks like a Strip mall casino.

I had to break my hundred into twenties, and then find a machine. Some random multi-game machine near the front that had video keno on it.

I decided on a straight 5 spot at a buck a throw. 

And on the 7th pull, I couldn't actually believe what happened! I hit five out of five for $810!

That's for taking away my Super Times Pay, Fremont!

This casino crawl was a wonderful, savvy idea and I should have known I'd win!!!

Holy crap, what a thrill! What a turnaround! This put me up on the day and up on the trip a little.

Next stop, the D, where I bought a Keno ticket. The one I already had cashed in for $23.45 (weird, eh) so I just replayed it for $25.

Next, the El Cortez, which again, has been video slot washed of all of its old school charm. I didn't even see any homeless guys in there! There wasn't a blackjack table less than $15.

I played the old version of Bufffffalo!!!!!! and actually managed to eke out a win.

Onward to the Downtown Grand, where they actually had $5 craps. I bought in for $20 and lost it. That's really not a good buy-in for table games, but I was doing a thing.

By the way, the sun was glorious out there and I hung around quite a few street corners, drinking it in a few minutes at a time. Just what a depressive degenerate (winning!) gambler needs.

Ogden took me back to the Cal, and I took the bridge to Main Street Station. They got rid of the Golden Arm trophies and replaced them with a TV.

What an honor.

Main Street was a little busier than I've seen it. Like 50 people busy instead of 10.

I decided to play the Keno progressive, something I haven't seen anywhere else.

The jackpot of $11K was to say the least significant.

Done in a minute.

And I declared the casino crawl done, and a success, even though I forgot the Cal, but I hardly think that matters.

I decided to play various video poker games around Main Street, and a few slots, and again, my luck had gone again from hero to zero. Nothing but nothing was hitting. I lost back nigh on $200 and never got a quad.

Back in the room, I was tired out and feeling sad about Christmas eve. I watched my Keno numbers on the computer, just lying in bed sort of all gambled and emotioned out. I even had a nap.

But the best thing was not to wallow, and to make a plan for dinner and get moving. Finally, I figured out that pizza at the 777 brew pub would fit the bill, and they even had dog agility on the TV, which the Quad Queen would have loved.

Pizza was solid too, and I brought half of it back for next day's breakfast.

I took the pizza back to the room, poured a nice traveler and then thought I'd have one more go at it in the casino, back where I started on quarter Bonus Poker. And some video keno.

I put the remainder of my winnings in the safe and took down only $100. I wanted to be sure I ended up a winner today - the $800 was great but I'd lost $300 before it and $200 after.

One quad showed up and that was it.

In writing this I noticed something very strange. Look at the first quad I got today compared to the last one.

The cards are sixes and nines and exactly - and I mean exactly down to the suits and positions - reversed. It makes me wonder.

I finished the day up $200 and I'm up on the trip $20. Amazing!

Next stop, Wynn!