Gambling and Casino Talk from Las Vegas to Atlantic City

East Coast Gambler -



Harrah’s Resort February: Machines 0

Posted on March 12, 2010 by The Commander

I played a lot of machines this trip to Atlantic City for a few reasons.  I caught a cold about halfway through my weekend and didn’t want to get others sick and also wasn’t in the mood to be around people.  I also didn’t do too well at the tables, so I decided to stay away.

I played a myriad of penny, nickle, quarter and dollar slot machines along with nickle, quarter, dollar and five dollar video poker.  I had a pretty good run at all of the machines and made up just about everything I lost at the tables.

The first night of machines started with some drinks and video poker at the bar.  As usual, I was drinking Grey Goose and club soda.  The pay tables at the bars aren’t very good, but after 3 drinks I only lost $4 plus $10 for a tip.  Not too shabby.

After losing $200 at 3 card poker I wandered back to the the machines and decided to try a game I’m not too familiar with – Anything But 6.

Evidently there is a strategy when getting to the bonus game, but I was not in condition to figure that out.  The Goose was loose!  A very nice young lady decided to give me some advice, but I never got another bonus to try.  That was a fun $100 down the tube.

After the loss I regrouped at went to look for my friend who was still rocking on the 3 card poker table.  The night ended with a little more losing and a burger.

The next morning I was hungover and it started off very similarly.   A disgusting looking cheeseburger with a fried egg.

While this looks nasty, it did the trick and the hangover was gone.  The two latte’s didn’t hurt either.  Before the burger I won back some of my losses from the previous night.  I was lucky enough to get four 7’s playing my favorite $1 9/6 Jacks or Better machines.

I walked away up about $150 and decided to wander off to play some pennies.  I found a 40 coin/line machine.  I have no idea what I was doing, but the idea was to get 2x, 3x, 4x and/or 5x.

I inserted $20 and after a while I was up a little but got bored and moved on.  After breakfast I hit the tables for a while.  Nothing special there so I hopped back to video poker.  I played a little more video poker and had a net positive.

I then went to one of my favorite nickle machines – “X-Treme Reels.”  After about 2 minutes I hit 7-7-7 times 5 times 2.  I don’t know exactly what it paid, but I walked away up $500!

The only other machine I would play was at the X-Bar later on that afternoon.  I watched some college hoops and had a couple more Grey Goose and soda while playing video poker.  Again a small loss and tip, but a couple more drinks.  When the bartender doesn’t change glasses the fruit tends to build up…lame.

My final day brought some good and bad.  I caught a nasty cold and that slowed me down as the day progressed.  The good news is that I found one of the 25 cent 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machines that have alluded for about a year.

I don’t play quarters too often, but it’s nice to know where the machines are in case I want to slow things down.  I placed twenty bucks in and won a few bucks after hitting my second straight flush!  Here’s my first.

The highlight of my day was when I found a new favorite nickle (or penny) slot called Time Machine.

This game had everything I like in a nickle slot.  Bright lights.  Loud noises.  Fun bonuses.  Surprises and most importantly MONEY!

The bonuses are random occurrences and happen in the past, present and future.  The first bonus I received was a dinosaur attack which yielded me 4 wild stripes which turned my $20 into $500+!

After another 4 of a kind at $1 Bonus Poker, I shut myself down and got some medicine and headed back to the room.

It was a great weekend with the machines.  I had great wins on the low limit slots and enough nice hits on video poker to keep the money rolling.  The machines made up for a few bad sessions of 3 card poker.  Sometimes it happens the other way around.  Almost even is always good.  Another successful trip.

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Trip Notes In Pictures 0

Posted on March 04, 2010 by The Commander

Here are my trip notes in reverse chronological order via pictures on my tumblr page.  I caught a cold on Saturday night and it’s been slaying me and I don’t expect to get many more posts up this week.  For now, enjoy my trip in brief.

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Atlantic City Video Poker Check 0

Posted on February 26, 2010 by The Commander

Doing a check of video poker inventory in Atlantic City on vpFREE doesn’t show much.  Harrah’s hasn’t been updated this year, while Borgata still has plenty of good machines to play.  Here are some of my findings.

If you’re not familiar with vpFREE, it is a database of video poker pay tables that are updated by video poker players.  It’s a great resource if you play a specific game like me.  I always check to see where the Jacks or Better machines are.

Bally’s (last updated: Feb 10, 10 04:35 AM UTC)

99.54% JoB 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800 JoB (FP)
(2) 25¢ Up in Park Place Video Poker area
(4) 25¢ Up near poker area, towards cashier
(4) $1 Prog Up in Park Place to the right of the big six wheel
(3) $1 3 Play Slant in Diamond Pointe immediately to the left after entering
(1) $1 3 Play Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(4) $1 1 Play Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(4) $1, $2 Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(1) $10 Up in Diamond Pointe
(1) $25 Up in Diamond Pointe

99.17% BP 1-2-3-4-5-8-25-40-80-50-800 BP (FP)
(3) $1 3 Play Slant in Diamond Pointe immediately to the left after entering
(1) $1 3 Play Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(4) $1, $2 Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(3) $5 Slant in back of Diamond Pointe
(1) $5 Up in Diamond Pointe
(1) $5 1/3 Play Slant in Diamond Pointe against opposite wall from doorway entrance
(1) $10 Up in Diamond Pointe
(1) $25 Up in Diamond Pointe
(1) 25¢ Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(9) 25¢ Prog Slant in Park Place to the right of the Big Six Wheel
(7) 25¢ 3 Play Prog Slant in Park Place near Big Six Wheel
(4) $1 Prog Slant in Park Place Video Poker area

99.11% DB 1-1-3-5-7-9-50-80-160-50-800
(4) $1 Slant in Park Place Video Poker area
(1) $5 Up in Diamond Pointe

(3) $5 Slant in the back of Diamond Pointe
99.00% JWD 1-1-4-6-8-10-25-50-100-1000
(5) 25¢ Slant Game King bank in Little Joe’s (WWW) 2nd Row from back wall
(3) 25¢ Up non-smoking section of Park Place Poker just opposite the casino host desk

Borgata (last updated: Feb 10, 10 04:35 AM UTC)

99.54% JoB 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800 JoB (FP)
(14) 25¢ Slant (Panel says Joker Poker) near the buffet
(6) 25¢ Up (Panel says Joker Wild Poker) between buffet & box office by the ATM
(4)  25¢ Slant in video poker area near the buffet
(8) 25¢ Up by high energy slots (one side of bank is 8/5, other side is 9/6)
(13) 25¢, 50¢, $1 Slant (various names on them – including Either way Royals, Triple Bonus Plus, Draw Poker) These are the next bank up from a huge sign that says Joker Poker – that bank is all 8/5’s between B-bar and the new section of the Borgata
(14) 25¢, 50¢, $1 Slant near buffet
(6) 25¢ Up just into new section of casino by change booth
(10) 25¢, 50¢ Slant (2 panels say draw poker, 8 say Joker Wild Poker) just outside of B-bar entrance
(11) 25¢, 50¢, $1 @ the B-bar
(6) 50¢ Slant (panel says Draw Poker) 2 Banks into the new section going from B-bar to Wolfgang Pucks
(10) $1, $2, $5 @ the B-bar
(4) $1, $2 Slant near the high-limit area
(6) $2, $5 Slant in high-limit area
(6) $5, $10 Slant in high-limit area
(4) $10, $25 Slant in high-limit area99.17% BP 1-2-3-4-5-8-25-40-80-50-800 BP (FP)
(3) $1, $2 Slant outside high-limit area next to roulette tables

98.98% DDB 1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-160-160-400-50-800 DDB (FP)
(4) 25¢ Slant in video poker area near the buffet
(6) $1, $2 next to main cashier at ends of $1 bank

97.25% DJW 1-2-3-3-3-5-8-10-25-800-2000(11) 25¢, 50¢, $1 @ the B-bar
(10) $1, $2, $5 @ the B-bar
(5) 25¢, 50¢, $1 located between the Italian restaurant and The Salon ( High Limit Table Area )

Caesars (last updated: Dec 07, 09 03:39 AM UTC)

99.54% JoB 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800 JoB (FP)
(7) 25¢ Prog Slant behind escalator near the Emperor’s Club
(3) $1, $2, $5 Slant about 3 rows past BJ tables as you walk towards Pacific Avenue
$2 Slant $2 Game Kings in high-limit room

99.11% DB 1-1-3-5-7-9-50-80-160-50-800
(2) 25¢ Up on the rear right wall near the race book. Some on this row are short pay

98.98% DDB 1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-160-160-400-50-800 DDB (FP)
(5) $1, $2, $5 Slant in middle of casino near mens rooom on left

Harrah’s (last updated: Sep 14, 09 08:14 PM UTC)

99.54% JoB 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800 JoB (FP)
(4) $1, $2 Slant in Diamond Cove
(3) $5, $10 Slant in Diamond Cove
(2) 25¢, 50¢, $1 Up near the Xhibition Bar (2 of three in group)
(1) 25¢, 50¢, $1, $2 Up near the Xhibition Bar (1 of three in group)

98.98% DDB 1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-160-160-400-50-800 DDB (FP)
(8) $1 Prog Up around a circle to the left of Xhibition Bar (with your back to women’s bathroom)
(2) 25¢, 50¢, $1 Up near the Xhibition Bar (2 of three in group)
(1) 25¢, 50¢, $1, $2 Up near the Xhibition Bar (1 of three in group)
(10) 25¢, 50¢, $1 Third carousel down from Total Rewards booth w/”World Series of Poker” sign

97.30% JoB 1-2-3-4-5-8-25-50-800
(8) $1 Prog Up around a circle to the left of Xhibition Bar (with your back to women’s bathroom)

These are the casinos that I will probably visit on my next trip.  To see all of the pay tables at the east coast casinos, head over to vpFREE.

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Week In Review 0

Posted on February 21, 2010 by The Commander

The major news this week was Harrah’s takeover of Planet Hollywood.  There seems to be lots of hate towards Harrah’s from everything I read and hear in podcasts.  I like whoever treats me best.  Harrah’s treats me ok.  Not great and not awful.  I’ll give this time to unfold before making judgement.  I’ll be able to experience the change, first hand, at Planet Hollywood when I visit Las Vegas in April.

I, finally, caught up on most of my December trip to Las Vegas.  See the gambling fun below.

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MGM Looking To Improve Players Club 0

Posted on February 18, 2010 by The Commander

MGM has decided to hire two companies to help in improving their comp club, Players Club.

The move may improve MGM Mirage’s competitive position against industry leader Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which is known for mining its own databases with scientific formulas to produced personalized offers to customers through its Total Rewards Program, which launched in 2000 and now has some 40 million members.

MGM’s Players Club is an improvement of the non-system that they used to have.  I like the direction Players Club is going and found the website easy to navigate and find offers.  Their offers seems to be in line with the amount I play at MGM casinos.  Not great, but something.

Harrah’s Total Rewards get’s a lot of praise in the media, but I don’t think there’s many customers that understand how it works.  I don’t completely understand how Total Rewards works, but I’ve changed how I gamble to get better comps.  I play much more video poker and slots than I used to because that gets recorded more accurately than playing at the tables.

MGM’s Players Club seems to be on the right path with a simple web design and easy to find offers.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this improves their marketing.

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Gambling in Las Vegas – Video Poker 7

Posted on February 16, 2010 by The Commander

I played a lot of video poker on this trip to Las Vegas.  My sleeping habits have me starting my day with slots.  That’s usually followed up with video poker after my first cup of coffee, when I can think a little.

One of the first emails I received when I landed in Las Vegas was a warning that the Palazzo and Venetian no longer had 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker games.  That is my game of choice, so I was disappointed.  Checking vpFree’s database I knew that these machines would come and go.  Unfortunately, they went away when I arrived.  I’ll call that sketchy.  :)

Poor pay tables don’t deter me too much, but I’ll usually play less.  I mostly played the $1/$2 8/5 Jacks or Better games outside of the high limits area at Palazzo.  This trip was fulls of ups and down in gambling as usual, but Video Poker at Palazzo was probably what made me the most money throughout the whole trip.  Let’s take a tour…

Early in the trip I was hitting a handful of medium sized jackpots like this full house.  Jacks or Better seems to be a slow grind and multiple Full House’s is where the profits really come from.  That’s why the “9″ in 9/6 matters so much.  In one session I hit about 3 Full House’s in about 5 hands.  Overall, these machines seemed to have a boatload of Full Houses.

Video Poker at Palazzo made up for a lot of my gambling losses.  I only played video poker one other time and that was at Wynn.  I think I won $20 after putting $20 in.  I don’t recall much as this was after a bad run at black jack and after a little too much wine at dinner.

I was down a little for the trip, when I sat down for my final session of gambling for the trip.  The session lasted about an hour and I was unstoppable.  This session erased all of my losses for the trip.  I count every dollar spent as a loss, since I spent the money.  Losses include tips, drinks, coffee, etc.

After grinding about 30 minutes to double my money, I finally had some big hits.  Four of a kind…

Four of a Kind is a great hand.  When playing the $1/$2 games these hands can make up a lot of distance, but they aren’t game changers like a Royal Flush and even a straight flush.  With about 5 minutes left on my trip I hit my first straight flush ever!

All of this brought me back to even for the trip.  NICE!  Even though the pay tables were not in my favor, I was able to make the best out of what I was given.  If I wasn’t winning, I wouldn’t have played but my luck was such that I didn’t feel so bad playing.

Unfortunately, it looks as if any hotel I’d want to stay at in Las Vegas has poor video poker pay tables so this won’t be the last time I deal with this.  As a result I see less video poker in my future trips, but I’ll keep checking the awesome vpFree to see what games are available where.

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Round Em Up 0

Posted on January 20, 2010 by The Commander

There have been quite a few articles over the past few weeks that I haven’t had time to comment on, but I’d like to pass on anyway.  Commentary will be kept to a minimum here as always with a round up.

  • Caesars Palace may be completing the Octavious Tower this year.  Las Vegas could use jobs, but does the hotel market need more room inventory?
  • Wizard Of Odds has a new video poker game to play with when your bored called Turbo Poker.  I spent a few minutes on it and wasn’t into it.
  • New Jersey may be getting legal sports betting.  This is going to legislation.  We’ll see.
  • Sweet tour and look at a duplex at Encore on Vegas Tripping.  The apartment is awesome, but something I don’t think I’d pay for.  I’d rather gamble.
  • Vegas Today and Tomorrow has some pictures of the new HRH lobby.  Like Aria, looks nice but dark.
  • Caesars Palace launches iPhone app.  I have it.  Not sure I need it, but it’s a nice try.  If you’re looking for a Las Vegas app you’re better off spending a few bucks on Vegas Mate.
  • Finally if you weren’t aware, Richard Abowitz, formally of the LA Times “Movable Buffet” has a new blog called Gold Plated Door.  Same great writing.

Finally, the Jets are in the AFC championship game this weekend against the Colts.  Here’s video of Shonn Green’s touchdown that ended the game last week against the Chargers.  14 seconds in you’ll see a nice “tribute” to LT.

Go Jets!!

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