Concours d'Elegance

Actually is this coming weekend at Wynn, lots of classic cars to be displayed around the golf course.  They had some on display in the halls of Wynn last weekend, to advertise the upcoming event.  (I almost felt sorry for the guards.)  I took some pics to show hubby who can't travel right now.  A 1921 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost; 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Convertible Coupe; 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage; 2018 Bugatti Chiron, among others.  Cars so shiny it is hard to believe they were real instead of made on a 3D printer.  Any for sale?  I forgot to ask.  But fun to look at.  

We stayed three nights at Wynn as it is BFF's favorite place (and she gets a trainload of RFB comps, so I tag along and try not to be an embarrassment).  She plays big on slots, and hits jackpots left and right, though by the middle of the last day she was out of money.  I had scratched my way along, doing well enough to be able to loan her a thousand, which lasted her about an hour.  She was to write me a check for the thousand when I dropped her off at home, but she couldn't find her checkbook.  Now, I have no doubt she'll come through, but...I'm on it...LOL.

Lucky me, my long Royal Flush dry spell was broken, as I hit two of them, plus one Aces/Kicker.  They were safely wrapped up in their respective W2-Gs and into the safe so that I wouldn't dig into them, not even to loan her the thousand.  Now ready for the trip we have planned in December!

If you are in Vegas this coming weekend, you might run by Wynn and see the pretty cars.  I'm guessing it will cost something for admission.

Candy

Wow, your friend must really bleed at the slots to get full RFB from the You Won't Wynn. Pity there's probably no way to convince her to play at a less rapacious joint and make her money last twice as long (plus, anyone losing $1000 an hour at one of the less glam non-Strip joints would get not only full RFB, but also three daily complimentary Swedish massages and a personal on-call cadre of slaves to carry her to and from her room (complete with sedan chair, of course).

I think your "it won't be free" prediction is accurate. I'm reminded of back in the day, when you could go to Ralph the Nazi's car musuem at the IP for free (I think they charged a small fee when the place was circling the drain). They had something like 70 vintage cars on display, some very unusual. I also went to the Harrah's car collection in Reno--I wonder if that's still around.

Congrats on breaking your royal drought. Given that you were playing at the Wynn, you were fighting a very steep uphill battle. It's always nice to have your next trip pre-financed.

Thanks for info, congrats on wins. Go Astros.

She is loathe to play less coin at those slots, and in playing higher coin than the majority of people do she hits more jackpots.  Honestly, I think that is a thing, play higher, hit more (on those slots, anyway).   To her, getting a "hand pay" as she calls it is the next thing to heaven.  I've known her to get six or seven (or more) "hand pays" in a visit and yet leave for home having put it all back in, as we say.  Do the math, at a minimum $1200 per hit but often more $$$.  I think she has a horseshoe up her butt, because after staying away from Vegas for some 15 or more years to care for her elderly mom and dad (thus she deserves all the luck in the world), she had received a "welcome back" letter from a Host at Wynn (and doesn't much remember ever playing there before) who started her out with $700 Free Play, four nights, lots of food credits, Limo to and from airport, access to the Tower Suites lounge, etc., while I had my usual 3 nights, $300 or so Free Play, guppies tower, etc.  How that happened she has no idea but she is up to $1000 Free Play without even asking.  She got a nice hefty inheritance which she deserves as I mentioned, and several other breaks along the way in pre-casino days. 

But...look, this is the second time I've had to loan her some cash to get through a trip.  So I remain a low to mid-level player at best, get decent comps and play somewhat conservatively, usually arrive home with half or more (or less) of what I bring.  I wait for my offers to come---all she has to do is notify her Host and the blessings flow.

Thanks...yes it was so very nice to get those VP hits.  All three in one afternoon, two on same machine.  Went back to them next day...nada, of course.  But that's how it goes.    Oh, and yes, we always went to the IP to see the vintage car collection.  They were more like the real thing, IMHO.

I'm reminded of something similar--in the field of live poker, the player who wins the most pots is almost always the biggest loser--because of what you have to do to win all those pots (as in, lose a lot of pots). So she wins a lot of jackpots--more than you--yet, she loses more than you do, because of what she has to do to win them.

She may or may not be aware of how finely calculated and calibrated the goodies they give her are. They know what she figures to lose. As you go up in volume, the amount you lose (NET) goes up as well. So if you play

$100,000 in a trip, you don't get twice as much in goodies as you would if you played $50,000. It's more like 1.5

times as much. This means that there's a "sweet spot" for every joint, where the value of the goodies is a maximum percentage of your expected loss.

That sweet spot could even be, happily play penny slots and get your resort fee waived and maybe a 2-for-1 restaurant coupon. Or it could be, play $10,000 and get three nights comped. (That used to be the sweet spot for Boyd casinos; play more than that and you didn't get much more in comps.)

So I doubt that they're offering her more than the standard 20% of what she's worth to them (it used to be more like 40%). This means that her expected losses during a trip are FIVE TIMES the value of the comps she receives (calculated at full rack/retail rates). So despite all the W2-Gs, my guess is, she's getting barbecued.