AC2LV » slot machine

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:44:24 +0000

This was a week to remember why I love Las Vegas. A friend was in town from back east and I spent most of the week on the strip drinking, eating and gambling. I live out in the burbs and don’t do that kind of raging often – even if the raging was subdued. There was some good and some bad. I’ll get deeper into that in the next couple of weeks, for now let’s look back at last week.

AC2Lv

Free Picks and Fun

Being away I was only able to get the Free Picks up. No fun.

Vegas Chatter

More Complicated Slots Aren’t (Always) Better Slots

Marc — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:25:52 +0000

If there’s one thing that’s obvious any time you step into a casino, it’s that slot machines are very popular and make the casino a lot of money. Slot machines have been a casino staple since the 1950s and 60s. However back then, they were there to keep wives distracted while men played the tables. Now slot machines take up most of the casino floor and are for anybody. Just like table games, slot machines have changed a lot over that time.

Every article I read about slot machines these days is always talking about the technology, the themes and the bonus games. Penny slots have gotten extremely popular in recent years with the countless ways you can win. You play multiple lines, bet different multipliers across lines, and some times even add a little more for a chance at the bonus game. These games are often themed and draw people in with all the apparent noise from winning. When max betting these types of slots can often cost upwards of $3 a spin, but often that win only amounts to a small part of that original bet.

These games can be fun for the bonus games, but for my money, I’m still an old-fashioned slot machine player. Even though I almost never play slots (since the house doesn’t disclose what the edge on the machine is), I still prefer a three reel $.25 machine to any penny machine. My favorite slots are haywire machines.

These haywire machines are typical three wheel machines, but every now and then the wheels go haywire, spin randomly, and pay-out accordingly. It breaks up the monotony of a typical slot but isn’t as ADD as the modern penny machines. Also, the max bet is usually only $.50 or $.75. So even though it’s a quarter machine, you’re still max betting less than per-spin than the pennies. So next time you see that shiny new themed machine, I suggest you go looking for the haywire machines. The haywire machine may not be as hot and young, but she’s definitely more dignified and refined.

(ED: I’ve written before about my love for loud, obnoxious, slots. I’m cool throwing a $20 in the trash for bangs, booms and lights. I tend to play the cheap penny slots where I only have to spend from .09 to .50 per spin. Last week at Planet Hollywood I found a couple new games – Gigantic Sevens and some crazy/spinny dragon game. They were awesome and I had a blast with them and will again)

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:20:31 +0000

As we usher in a new contributor for ECG, it’s exciting to say that this will be the last Week In Review for East Coast Gambler.net. After the new holiday a new chapter for ECG will begin. We’ll have the same content with a shorter URL and (hopefully) better functionality while keeping the same east meets west content. I’ve been thinking about making this switch for a while, but haven’t had the patience to do it. There will be a couple more exciting announcements in the upcoming weeks, but this is it for today.

We’ll be back atcha next week with all the good new stuff. For now, let’s check the week that was.

East Coast Gambler

The ECG links may be broken. For some reason, they don’t work for me but they work for some people.
Cosmopolitan: Where $100 goes further than you think
Hilton Out…Sahara In?
iPads Popping Up All Over Vegas
Las Vegas Fireworks!
Full Tilt Poker Room Shut Down
“Absinthe” Star Angel Porrino Ain’t Ugly
Westin Casuarina – Cheap Craps In Vegas EVERY Day
Electric Daisy Carnival Didn’t Kill Anyone In Vegas
Dave Matthews Band Caravan Crashed Into Atlantic City
George Maloof: Chairman of the Board of the Palms

Vegas Chatter

Free Picks and Fun

Get Vegas Apps

Vegas Way

Frank Sinatra "Nothing But The Best"

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:57:50 +0000

The week started off all fine and dandy with a nice amount of action across the ECG family of sites. Unfortunately ECG, itself, had some technical issues later in the week that I’m still working on. Hopefully, it’s nothing major. It’s fathers day and I wish all the fathers a Happy Fathers Day! Let’s just look back at the past week of fun.

East Coast Gambler

Vegas Chatter

Get Vegas Apps

Bally Vegas Hits
Caesars Palace

Free Picks and Fun

Palms One Step Closer To Caesars Management?

Marc — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:50:58 +0000

Yesterday Palms got a little help with their finances in exchange for controlling interest of their casino, hotel and spa in Las Vegas when the announced a partnership with TGP Capital (the folks who helped Caesars go private a few years back) and Leonard Green.

The deal between TPG Capital and the Palms has been rumored for months but not confirmed until today. In January, Bloomberg reported that the firms had acquired most of a loan for the casino last year and sources close to the deal said the company may take an equity stake in the first quarter as part of the restructuring.

TPG Capital, along with Apollo Global Management, took Caesars Entertainment (then Harrah’s Entertainment) private for $30.7 billion in January 2008.

Nothing in the initial releases points to takeover by Caesars, but it has been speculated for a while (initially by Steve Friess and The Strip Podcast) that a sale/partnership/takeover could end up with Caesars taking control of the property.

In this case it seems to reason that the money guys will bring in their favorite casino partners, Caesars, to help run day to day operations.

Of course, this opens the question of how soon will the “loosest slots in town” and great video poker pay tables switch to the mediocre Caesars numbers uses. I think we have time here, but get ready.

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:00:41 +0000

It’s been a fun week and kind of busy week. For the first time since I moved to Las Vegas, I went out three nights in a row. This doesn’t include trips to the strip where I’ll stay there for 3 days. I got to see some cool people and eat some good food. I’m pretty stoked to have a few “trips” coming in the next couple months. Also fun, has been watching my friends back east complaining about the heat…I haven’t had to turn on the AC yet. I know it’s coming, so I’m enjoying while I can. Here’s the week in review.

I finally restored GVA after breaking it last week so there were no updates.

Week In Review

Marc — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:00:18 +0000

So ECG has been updated a bit. I’ve removed a bunch of clutter and hopefully made it easier to find and share things. One of the things I’m most excited about is the share bar on each story. It should be easier to share info than ever! This week I’ll continue the updates by going through each page to make sure I’m not missing anything and that the links are correct. Every now and again things get by me.

This is really just the beginning of the transformation. Hopefully you like and enjoy the changes. If you have any comments, please leave them here or just tweet me. I should be able to keep content as normal this week on ECG since the aesthetic changes are mostly done.

Here’s what I was able to get to last week on both ECG and Vegas Chatter.

ECG Changes
Ever Get Short Sticked? Me Neither
Atlantic City Airshow Set
Aria Commercial
Least Favorite Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City
Least Favorite Casino In Atlantic City
Least Favorite Restaurants in Atlantic City
Holly’s World Good Bad TV
Least Favorite Hotel Rooms in Atlantic City
Vegas Chatter: We Love Free Concerts!
Vegas Chatter: A Super Record? You Can Bet On It
Vegas Chatter: Almost Time to Shuffle Up and Deal
Vegas Chater: What Are Your Odds For Winning Megabucks, Too?
Vegas Chatter: When Too Much is Just Too Much

Take a look at Book and Stage at Cosmopolitan. Pretty sweet hang.

Gambling on the Strip

Marc — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:13:39 +0000

I’m just off of a long weekend on the strip in Las Vegas. We stayed at Planet Hollywood and the hotel, itself, was more of the same. I love the hotel, but everything inside the room leaves something to be desired. You can see the highs and lows on Vegas Chatter.

I gamble differently when I’m alone then when I’m with friends. When I’m alone I mostly play video poker and slots, but when I’m with friends I’ll be a little more social with my gambling and play much more blackjack and table games. This group of friends strictly played blackjack so when we were together, which was most of the time, I played blacjkack.

I played anywhere from $10 minimums to $25 minimums. Unfortunately I never won enough in a row to get my progressive bets over $75. That’s where the real money is won!

We played at Planet Hollywood both in and out of the Pleasure Pit and I won both ways. We also played some double deck blackjack in the Heart Bar at Planet Hollywood. This was also considered the Pleasure Pit so we only got paid 6:5 for blackjack, not that I saw many blackjacks this weekend. We also played at Aira, Caesars Palace and Hard Rock.

I was a winner everywhere except Aria where their CSM dealt me almost the same hand every time.

10+ > low card > 10+

Even though the odds say don’t I’d rather play 6:5 single, double or shoe games than CSM because I get some kind of rhythm for the cards. By calculation each Grey Goose and soda at Aria cost me $100, but they were 3 good drinks! Once again no blackjack games under $25 were shoe Aria. This ensures that I will not be staying at Aria or any other CityCenter properties. It also gives me no real reason to return to Aria to gamble.

The night before we had one of the greatest runs of blackjack at the Hard Rock where we played until they kicked us out at 5:30am. We all won. The size depended on how much we bet. The smallest winner walked away with $150 and the biggest walked away with over $1,000 in profits. I played small and drank heavy. Since I don’t frequent the Hard Rock I wasn’t worried about accumulating any points for comps so I only won only a portion of that I could have. I also made a death defying recovery from my last bet to plus $200-300!

One of my friends didn’t speak for the last hour we played at Hard Rock. We later realized he wasn’t just in a zone, but he was way to drunk. At least I’m smart enough to cut my Grey Goose with club soda.

I’m leaving the horrible tales of the worst payouts ever at the Pussy Cat Dolls Lounge at Caesars Palace for my friends over at Vegas Chatter. I walked away even, but I was the only one. At least there were PLENTY of good looking girls.

The only other tale of gambling is that I saw someone playing my special 9/5 3-play Jacks or Better video poker machine at Planet Hollywood. Previous to this sighting the machine had ALWAYS returned at least even money. After the old man touched it I couldn’t win. This took any winnings I may have had in sports betting and blackjack.

Overall this was a negative trip, but I only needed one days worth of my bankroll for all four days. I will call this a success!

Beverage On Demand Coming To Atlantic City

Marc — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:20:27 +0000

Harrah’s, (damnit, this happens every time!) Caesars has been testing Beverage on Demand in some of their smaller markets. In the first quarter next year they’ll be taking automated drink service to, Atlantic City, the #2 gambling market in the US.

Slot players at Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort and Showboat Casino-Hotel will be able to select alcoholic beverages or soft drinks from an interactive video display on their machines. Caesars Entertainment is touting the system as a way for customers to “seamlessly request” a drink without interrupting their gambling.

Drink service tends to be slower at the machines so I welcome this for when I’m playing the newest Wizard of Oz slots or video poker. OK, I’m down. More drinks quicker? Sure. Show me. If this goes well, Las Vegas can’t be far behind.

G2E Summary

Marc — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:51:27 +0000

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to the G2E expo in Las Vegas. As I detailed on Vegas Chatter it was a great experience. I was able to see some of the behind the scenes things in the casino industry that I’ve always been curious about. It’s nice to see one of the things I overheard confirmed.

Last week’s annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) saw a 15 percent increase in attendance from last year, with over 26,000 attending and 520 exhibitors.

I’m like having my observations confirmed. If you are curious about the gaming expo check my wrap up. If you haven’t seen the awesome new Hangover slot check it out too.