My solo trip, Sept 1-5

Airline - Delta, had enough miles for free trip. Took the 12:00PM direct flight, didn't take off till 3:00PM. Was told they were working on plane in hanger. I believe better to delay on ground, than in the air. Came home on red-eye Friday night, no problems.

Car - Always have used Dollar with no hassles, using express. Had a Ford Taurus. 35,000 miles on it, warning lights going on for brakes. But still kept it, ran OK for what use I would give it. When I pulled out I go to Warm Springs Rd., I always turn left at light. Waited 3 turns of left light to turn green, so I went through after that. Hope I don't receive a ticket, there were cameras.

Hotel - Always at El Cortez, get best deal. Free. Nords is a great help. Stayed in Cabana Suite, main reason to stay in those rooms is the showers. I like that lot of space to shower in. And ladies at the desk are always friendly. Wish they wouldn't have that jar of candy by the door, always grabbing a few. Plus they have fruit out.

Eating - Mainly ate at Café Cortez, again free. Did travel for breakfast to Cracked Egg, always get the oatmeal overload. Had $10 for restaurant at "The D", used it for breakfast. I should always remember to have coffee brought out first before ordering. Didn't get it till she brought breakfast. Also like my toast dry, had butter on it. She didn't come back to check on meal till she brought bill. No, I didn't want new toast after I was done with my omelet.

Gambling - Not the greatest time on my video poker playing. No royal, once with aces with kicker, once with 4's and kicker, once with aces only. This was on ddb machines, quarters. I did play "The Walking Dead" and hit for $192, don't know what I did but stopped with $200 profit. Also played some craps, and played smart for myself and walked away when I was $130 ahead. Walked by crap table 10 minutes later and saw almost everyone down on there chips.

That's about all, walked to the "The Grand" played enough to get t-shirt without losing any money. Saw the people dressed as whatever to make money on Fremont. One girl was holding a fan up in front of her breasts, I don't think she had anything on. I didn't stare. Just drooled a little.

Thanks for the report! Happy you were able to leave with some winnings! DDB VP can be quite volatile so I just avoid it since I don't have the stomach to handle the pretty wild swings that can happen there.

And I definitely like a nice report about Downtown LV -- my favorite place to stay and play!

RecVPPlayer

Fun report!

Breakfast at the D, sounds like you got a rookie server.
No coffee before the food is brought out? C'mon. I'd have had to complain.

My theory about DDB is: they brought it out years ago and everybody, myself included, thought we had died and gone to heaven. Could always count on getting Aces with Kicker, Kickers with Kickers, Royals, at least daily. Then, knowing everyone on the planet was playing it, 2-3 years ago they came like thieves in the night and killed that action. Very tough to win on DDB these days. You actually did quite well, in my opinion.

And I think this is what is done with any new and popular games...let us win for a short while and then tighten it way, way, down. But I digress!

Anyway, you had a good time and won a little money.

At least as far as I know (and what I'm saying is based on the mathematics that is involved with Video Poker), what has changed is some of the pay schedules (which will affect the game's return rate) but not the Variance (which has always as far as I know for DDB been at at least 42). I've known for years (mostly thanks to the aid of the great information that has come from the
https://www.vpinsider.com website) that the at least base Variance (which is basically the rate of Volatility of the game) for Double Double Bonus Poker is 42 whereas for 10/7 Double Bonus, it's 28 -- for 9/6 Jacks Or Better, the Variance is 19.5. The lower the game's Variance number is, the more "smooth" your Video Poker roller coaster ride will be.

And so in reality, it really is the combination of the game's return (which is dependent on the game's pay schedule) in addition to the game's Variance that really affects things. This is just another reason for why players should very carefully check machines' entire pay schedule to make sure that nothing has been made worse by the casino then deciding to offer an even lower return than there may have previously been.

This is why a website like https://www.vpfree2.com can be a great help for players to have at least some kind of idea (although this could change at any time) of what may be offered where as well as what the casino's Slot Club (if any) has to additionally offer.

I myself will not play a Video Poker game where the Variance is much above 28 (an exception might be made to a game that starts off with a not bad Variance but which goes higher due to there being a Progressive Jackpot). I find that the Variance rate of 42 for Double Double Bonus, is just too high for me to want to deal with it. Although there is a version (one of the 10/6 Versions -- there again are different pay schedules even with the Full House paying 10 For 1 and the Flush paying 6 For 1) of DDB which has a return of 100.09%, that Variance can still be pretty brutal (42 is 50% more than 28).

A higher Variance is more likely to make the periods of losing longer which means that a player would need to have more money to better weather the cold periods.

As for "new and popular games", at least from what I learned from Steve Bourie of the American Casino Guide, machine manufacturers offer casino owners a range of returns for a game and so the casino can decide on what rate they want their chip(s) to return and this could differ not only from casino to casino but even within the same casino.

Another place where you can read up about Variance is at: https://www.videopokerinfo.com/gamevariance.htm. On this website, the version of 10/6 DDB that they provide offers a return of over 99.9% but it's not the 100.09% version (but the Variance is still the same at about 42).

RecVPPlayer

Thanks, RecVP.
I know you study this stuff in depth, and I appreciate your sharing.

You're very welcome! The more that people can know about this stuff, the better off they will be -- they can become at least less likely to lose. And so now please check back to what I just previously wrote because I have now added in more information including about Variance (including a link explaining Variance itself).

And please understand that I want to help people to understand the math behind this stuff so that people can make a more informed decision on what they may end up doing -- I'm not trying to take their "fun" away.

Unfortunately, many people may end up basically blindly going up to a machine and not know what they are getting into between the game's return and the Variance and so they can end up more easily getting in over their head and are then not more adequately bankrolled for the playing session that they are having.

We each pick our own "poisons" to deal with, but I think that the more information that we can have about what we are dealing with, the better off that we will be!

RecVPPlayer

She's got scotch tape or clear pasties on - She's also one of the very few decent looking performers out there. I drooled a little as well!
Roy