I paid a $1000 to enter a slot tournament at MGM this weekend. The prize pool was $350,000 and it only had 148 entrants. My math says that is a great tournament to get into.
The tournament was broken down into two separate days with $175,000 given away each day. The first place prize was $25,000 and went down from there. The last place prize was $500 so everybody would at least get their buyin back.
In the first round on Friday I scored 12,690. On the second round on Friday I scored 12,589. With those scores I thought I would be in the middle of pack for the days prizes. Boy was I wrong. I finished 13th. Well, actually it was 13th from the bottom good for 135th place out of 148 and it paid $500.
On Saturday my scores improved to 15,300 an 13,200 for another spectacular $500 win. I guess my carrer as a professional slot tournament player is now in question.
The good news is that I got my $1000 buy in back so it really was a freeroll. I will play in this type of a tournament any time it is offered.
Daily Result: -$0
Year to Date: +$28,747
Showing posts with label MGM Grand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MGM Grand. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
A Busy night of gambling
I checked into the MGM last night for a slot tournament on Friday and Saturday. After checking in I visited the High Limit slots room at MGM to survey any changes. I didn't see anything new so I sat down at one of the 50-play $1 jacks or better games (99.5% + 0.33% free play). This game is almost break even and a great game to play to generate lots of coin in while theorhetically losing very little. I started out playing 10 hands at a time and slowly went up and down. I varied between playing 10, 15, and 25 hands depending on the amount of credits I had. I played for about a half hour putting through $14,000 with a $200 win.
The guy next to me was playing the highest stakes video poker that I ever witnessed. He was playing a 10-play $50 denom game. In the half hour I was there he lost the $15,000 he had on the machine when I got there, took another marker for $20,000, and was down to $2,000 when I left.
After meeting my friend for dinner, she wanted to play a silly penny video slot so I sat and watch for about 20 minutes until my mind was completely numb. While she continued playing that I went back over to the 50-plays and lost $1100 in ten minutes. Our next stop was NYNY so she could play the penny 5 reel 30 line Millionaire Sevens game. For those not familiar with this game, I think it is the best mechanical reel slot introduced in the last 5 years. This is the only reel slot that I could actually sit and play for a few minutes without being bored. While she is playing the slot I go over to a Blackjack table and go on a tear. I bought in for $500 and started betting $50. After about fifteen minutes I cashed out $1725 when they changed dealers. I finished by not losing a single hand in my last 12 hands.
Next we walk over to the Excalibur to play the $1 10/6 Double Double game (100.1%). I give my friend some money so we could both play on my card while having drinks at the bar. My machine is playing pretty well and I am getting a few four of a kinds. Her machine isn;t cooperating and she loses $500 of my money. Right as she runs out I hit four four's with a kicker for $800. I cash out at $1200 and make her go collect on the ticket. When she returns we each put another $100 in and she manages to hit for Aces on the very first hand. I was very excited until I noticed she was playing quarters. Apparently, the machine defaulted back to quarters when she ran out of money. She hadn't noticed until I pointed it out and then she felt terrible. Oops, that cost me $600. When we finish playing video poker I am exactly even for the day.
At about 1am we returned to MGM where in my drunken tired state of mind I deduced it would be wise to play some more Blackjack. I found the good double deck game and proceeded to lose a $1000 in about 40 minutes. I was foolish because I was actually ahead $500 at one point and I didn't quit. At this point I compounded my stupidity by going back to the 50play machine to "win back my $1000". That cost me $1300 more and then I called it a night.
Daily Result: -$2,300
Year to Date: +$28,747
The guy next to me was playing the highest stakes video poker that I ever witnessed. He was playing a 10-play $50 denom game. In the half hour I was there he lost the $15,000 he had on the machine when I got there, took another marker for $20,000, and was down to $2,000 when I left.
After meeting my friend for dinner, she wanted to play a silly penny video slot so I sat and watch for about 20 minutes until my mind was completely numb. While she continued playing that I went back over to the 50-plays and lost $1100 in ten minutes. Our next stop was NYNY so she could play the penny 5 reel 30 line Millionaire Sevens game. For those not familiar with this game, I think it is the best mechanical reel slot introduced in the last 5 years. This is the only reel slot that I could actually sit and play for a few minutes without being bored. While she is playing the slot I go over to a Blackjack table and go on a tear. I bought in for $500 and started betting $50. After about fifteen minutes I cashed out $1725 when they changed dealers. I finished by not losing a single hand in my last 12 hands.
Next we walk over to the Excalibur to play the $1 10/6 Double Double game (100.1%). I give my friend some money so we could both play on my card while having drinks at the bar. My machine is playing pretty well and I am getting a few four of a kinds. Her machine isn;t cooperating and she loses $500 of my money. Right as she runs out I hit four four's with a kicker for $800. I cash out at $1200 and make her go collect on the ticket. When she returns we each put another $100 in and she manages to hit for Aces on the very first hand. I was very excited until I noticed she was playing quarters. Apparently, the machine defaulted back to quarters when she ran out of money. She hadn't noticed until I pointed it out and then she felt terrible. Oops, that cost me $600. When we finish playing video poker I am exactly even for the day.
At about 1am we returned to MGM where in my drunken tired state of mind I deduced it would be wise to play some more Blackjack. I found the good double deck game and proceeded to lose a $1000 in about 40 minutes. I was foolish because I was actually ahead $500 at one point and I didn't quit. At this point I compounded my stupidity by going back to the 50play machine to "win back my $1000". That cost me $1300 more and then I called it a night.
Daily Result: -$2,300
Year to Date: +$28,747
Sunday, March 30, 2008
BlackJack and Video Poker
After having a few drinks with friends at Luxor, a group of us went to MGM to play some Blackjack. We played for about a half hour at MGM where I was betting $100-$300. In that half hour we had some goods decks with good counts and I was able to walk away up $1005.
Next we headed to New York/ New York for a little more Blackjack. We had a fun table with some great dealers and good cocktail service. I started off losing here but finally climbed out of the hole playing mainly $100 or $200 bets. I called it quits around 2am with a $340 profit for this stop.
By this point I was pretty drunbk and grabbed a taxi back to Caesar's. While walking to my room I unfortunately had to pass the High Limit Slot area. In a drunken stupor I began playing a $5 triple play video poker machine and since I wasn't fast enough I moved to the $25 machine next to it. A $25 video poker machine is way out of my league. My bankroll can definitely not support the big bankroll swings. I played the 9/6 jacks or better game and the 8/5 Bonus poker game and lost very quickly. The best hand I hit was one Full House. I stumbled out of this area after about 45 minutes down $6200. I really wanted to kick myself this morning when I realized that it had been Sunday morning when I lost it. Once again, I seem to lose big every Sunday and I hadn't planned on playing at all on Sunday's for a while.
Daily Result: -$4,855
Year to Date: +$37,365
Next we headed to New York/ New York for a little more Blackjack. We had a fun table with some great dealers and good cocktail service. I started off losing here but finally climbed out of the hole playing mainly $100 or $200 bets. I called it quits around 2am with a $340 profit for this stop.
By this point I was pretty drunbk and grabbed a taxi back to Caesar's. While walking to my room I unfortunately had to pass the High Limit Slot area. In a drunken stupor I began playing a $5 triple play video poker machine and since I wasn't fast enough I moved to the $25 machine next to it. A $25 video poker machine is way out of my league. My bankroll can definitely not support the big bankroll swings. I played the 9/6 jacks or better game and the 8/5 Bonus poker game and lost very quickly. The best hand I hit was one Full House. I stumbled out of this area after about 45 minutes down $6200. I really wanted to kick myself this morning when I realized that it had been Sunday morning when I lost it. Once again, I seem to lose big every Sunday and I hadn't planned on playing at all on Sunday's for a while.
Daily Result: -$4,855
Year to Date: +$37,365
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Back on the Las Vegas Strip
The night started at Treasure Island where I had $230 in free play to collect. I lost that on the $1 10-play video poker and proceeded to put in another $900. After about 45 minutes I gave up and collected a $750 ticket.
The next stop was the MGM for some double deck Blackjack with good rules. This is one of the few places where you can still find a decent double deck game. The first couple of hours the deck was terribly negative. I believe I only had three times where I had a +3 or greater true count. I was mainly flat betting $100 (table minimum) while waiting for some good counts. I would press up to $200 when the count went positive and $300 when it got to +3 or better.
Finally, after 3 hours I had a +9 true count and put out a $500 bet. I was concerned when the first card was a 5 against the dealer 9, but the second card also being a 5 improved my moral. I doubled down and won with my 20 against the dealer 19.
After 3 hours I quit with a small $250 profit. I went back to Caesar's Palace and played a little 8/5 Bonus Poker. I was in $400 when it dealt me 4 Aces for a $2000 handpay. I quit a few minutes later with a $1600 profit.
Daily Result: +$1,700
Year to Date: +$42,220
Monday, February 18, 2008
Grand Disaster
On Saturday I went to the MGM to meet a friend and play some video poker. I decided to play the $1 50 play 9/6 Jacks or Better game. I started by playing only 25 hands to reduce wait time for W2G's when being dealt a full house. Playing 25 hands a dealt Full House Pays $1125 which is under the $1200 W2G requirement.
My luck started bad and continued that way with me losing my $5000 bankroll in about an hour. I was never dealt a pat hand greater than Three of a Kind. I think I put about $24,000 coin in through the machine.
Luck me, when I got home I found a hundred dollar bill in my pocket. Therefore I only lost $4900.
Daily Result: -$4,900
Year to Date: +$41,480
My luck started bad and continued that way with me losing my $5000 bankroll in about an hour. I was never dealt a pat hand greater than Three of a Kind. I think I put about $24,000 coin in through the machine.
Luck me, when I got home I found a hundred dollar bill in my pocket. Therefore I only lost $4900.
Daily Result: -$4,900
Year to Date: +$41,480
Friday, January 18, 2008
A little blackjack
I visited the MGM Grand for the first time in probably three months to play some Blackjack.
I had about $800 in my pocket so I began playing for $50 a hand. The table I was at was a full table and played rather slowly but was pretty entertaining. A couple of the guys were in from Maine and telling horror stories about the snow.
I played for abou 90 minutes spreading my bet from $25 to $100 depending on the deck composition. I was ahead $400 until my last hand where I bet $50 and was dealt two sevens against a dealer four. I split the sevens getting a two on one hand and a four on the other hand. I doubled down on both hands resulting in a 19 and an 18. The dealer flips over a ten for a total of 14 and pulls a six for a 20. I lose both hands and decide it is about time to leave.
Daily Result: +$200
Year to Date: +$2,900
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