At the Rainbow, a Pot of VP Gold

I was in town for my annual December Golden Week trip — though it was more dirty brown and dusty, as Golden Week follows the NFR when the 100,000 cowboys leave town. I was there for the last few days of cowboy hats and everything country.

In conversation with Jean Scott, I realized I’d completely forgotten to do all the Fremont matchplays using my Southwest ticket, but I’ll be back for Super Bowl in six weeks, so I’ll have another shot then. Can’t get enough matchplays!

It was a really great trip. Final tally: up more than $1,200 in cash, $200 in comps, some gifts, and free meals for five days. Winner winner steaks for dinner.

It was all about video poker. I won at the Four Queens and Rainbow, lost money at the Downtown Grand, and crashed and burned at the Thursday VP tournament there. I saw a royal flush and high 4-of-a-kind with a kicker — just not on my machine. This seems to be a theme, but I still love the DTG, now comping me a minimum of two free nights a month; my six-night stay there, including the last weekend of NFR, ran $240. Total. Parking is free and the Grand is super convenient.

Then I rented a car, as I practically lived out at Rainbow, eating for free there and winning, winning, and winning. I started asking myself, how long can this go on? More on that.

The car cost $250, including with gas. Since I left with more than five times that, most won at the Rainbow, it was well worth it.

I was on a free Southwest flight on points. I used my Southwest card for an A1-15 upgrade and was reimbursed. I love getting that seat in the emergency row with no seat in front of me, what I call Southwest first class.

Then I found a progressive that I analyzed it using my handy-dandy Frugal VP Scouting Guide. When I reviewed the return, plus the value of the progressive, it was at 100%! I played it exclusively during the 25x-point periods, adding 2.5%, earning me oodles of comps and some gifts; I was eating so much at the Triple B diner, I got chummy with the waitresses. Hi, Janelle.

All that said … sigh … It seems my lot in life is to rarely hit a royal. I really tried, at one point investing $800 of my winnings (applying the Kelly Criterion and using 50% of my bank). Still, though I’m bereft of the royals, man! I seem to be king of 4-of-a-kind, hitting two for $600, two at $250, two more at the Four Queens, and a straight flush for way over $2,200 in winnings. Between my “investing” $800 and some of the inevitable bleed, I still left up $1,200-plus in cash.

And that’s what I call a good trip.