Visitreno

[Mammothgambler]

Hello, hope everyone is doing well!

Just back from Reno and have to say that this has been the second highest paying casino run of my life. Hope the luck continues for sure!

My original plan was to just do a single night at Harrah's Reno, but right before leaving, my neighbor called and said he wanted to tag along, so we wound up leaving a day early. After a last-minute comp check, I went with a free tower room offer at the Peppermill for Sunday night.

Upon getting to the Pep, I noticed they now have an updated group of express check-in kiosks, which is awesome, because the old ones only worked on one of my trips out of many, and I still can't deal with that front desk. Upon getting to the room after a bit of looking around, it was tucked away practically in the basement. The windows were at ceiling level and very short, looking out to the sidewalk. I requested two beds, and there was only one. It felt like being in a dungeon for some reason. After a quick call to the front desk, they were really apologetic and gave me a free upgrade to a Patio Suite in the Tuscany Tower. I was way stoked! Slid my Passport card and won a free deck of cards playing PepperMillions.

It started out being up-down during the first couple of hours. I decided to wander over to the $3 Double Ten Times Pay, and after playing about $50, I hit 2 red 7s and a Ten Times Pay symbol for a total win of $1500. No complaints here, and now I can say that in addition to many smaller wins, I've had a hand pay on this one as well as its $2 counterpart on the other side of the kiosk! Click the first pic to play the video clip I shot by accident, thinking my cam was in still mode...





Went bowling for a bit at the Grand Sierra Resort, and upon coming back, grabbed some prime rib and hash browns at the Café Milano. Wound up staying up until about 5:30 am the next morning. By the time we packed up and left for Harrah's, I think I had played through about $400 or so. I decided to revisit the $3 Double Ten Times Pay machine, which spit out another $300 for me.



It was only about 10:30 am when we got to Harrah's, and they had no problem with an early check-in. Got a comped west tower room on the 8th floor, and pretty much stayed in up-down mode for most of the day without winning anything major. Wound up going bowling again at the Starlight right off of the interstate. The parking lot there provided an awesome view of the downtown casinos.



Later on that evening, I was playing the kiosk of $1 Blazing 7s and a lady at the machine next to mine hit the progressive. Always good knowing which ones are hitting so you can plan ahead! I wandered over to the kiosk of $1 Double Blazing 7s and wound up getting mixed 7s on three different machines for a total win of $600.







Since both the kiosks looked like they had been played through for the moment, I decided to head over to the Silver Legacy to check out theirs. Good thing I did! Got a $300 hit and a couple of mixed 7s $200s as well.







I checked out a new series of the Haywire and Double Diamond machines and was able to get a small bonus of about $25. A few spins on the Wheel of Fortunes, and I decided to walk over to the other side of the casino. I'm sure you all know that the progressives on the $1 Blazing 7s tend to stay rather low, around $1000 or so. I like the machines at both Harrah's Reno and the Silver Legacy because theirs are always $1500+. What happened next was pretty unreal - about 10 spins in to another $1 Blazing 7s machine, I hit the progressive - $1805! I couldn't believe it!









After heading to the Carvings buffet at Harrah's for dinner, we went over to the Grand Sierra Resort to meet up with another neighbor of ours. I hadn't been in there since it was the Hilton, and was finally able to take a look around. I've heard that they are getting ready to start renovating their rooms, and I was pretty impressed with the casino overall. The bowling center was having a really great unlimited usage lane rental special, so we were able to take advantage of that until around midnight.

Back at Harrah's, most of the crowd was gone and everything was pretty quiet. Got a few more $200 mixed 7s hits on the $1 Blazing 7s.







After playing through another $300 or so, I hit up the one $1 Blazing 7s machine in the kiosk that I hadn't yet played that day - this time, on the other side of the one that paid earlier in the evening. About $45 later, I hit the progressive - $1517.33!







The late-nite grub session at the Hash House a Go Go consisted of yet another huge bacon and mashed potato burger. Those things are awesome!

As I mentioned in a previous trip report, I hadn't seen the Jackpot Call Attendant sign, or a W2G form, since 2008. Within 2 weeks, I all of a sudden have a total of FOUR - I guess I'm making up for lost time? Hope it keeps up!

Mammothgambler

[john]

Great run, MG. Getting laid off could be the best thing that ever happened to you. Keep up the good work and keep us posted on your job situation.

[LilyJDragonfly]

Wow! I swear those Blazing 7s seem so tempting but I never seem to hit on them... congratulations!!

[Zydeco]

I love TRs with photos! Thanks for the view of downtown.

[BC Dave]

Excellent trip report, Mammoth. Nothing can promote Reno better than a winning report like that!

[CaSwede]

Wow Mammoth. What a hot streak you are on. You did buy a lottery ticket today didn't you??

Who needs to work? Blazing 7's has a new employee.

[Mammothgambler]

Thanks everyone! To keep the blood flow going, I hit up the Indian casino in Bishop again today, got way outta control with a $5 Wheel of Fortune, then moved over to a $1 Perfect Ten (a very old-skool IGT machine that's similar to the Ten Times Pay), stayed on it for an hour, got several 10x multipliers, and walked out up another $1200! The little hole in the wall casino has more security than I've seen at the biggest of places, so unfortunately couldn't get any pics. I'm trying to kick this cold I've had for the past couple of weeks by staying busy somehow - no new snow here!

Until next week!
Mammothgambler

[BC Dave]

Hey Mammoth. Is that Bishop, California? The Paiute Palace?

[Mammothgambler]

BC Dave,

Yup, that's the one! It's about 30 minutes from here down the 395 Highway. The local sources say that it's the biggest mix of recycled money here in the Eastern Sierra - people win big and lose big. I've never taken a huge amount of money in or out of there like I've done in Reno/Tahoe/Vegas, but these past few trips have been awesome. Last week, I found myself with an incredible amount of points that I racked up over the past 4 years and was wondering what to do with them, because they don't have anything there except a restaurant and gas station. Turns out that you can get all kinds of things like free gas, and I was pretty surprised when I found out they give cash back - something I'm not seeing much of lately anywhere!

As I mentioned, it's definitely an Indian casino, the vibe is much different. No liquor or beer, only a soft drink cart being pushed around. Mandatory bag check/storage if you're carrying a backpack or coat, and numerous staff and security guards everywhere. Sometimes it's annoying because they like to stand around and watch and come up and talk to people when they're playing, which in my eye disturbs the mojo! But, the bus drops off right at the front door and it's a good two hours of play time on those days when I have to go to K-Mart. Or can't make it to Reno.

Mammothgambler

[BC Dave]

OK, I had thought you were in Mammoth, CA. not that far south of Klamath Falls, Oregon. But you're at Mammoth Lakes - (I guess.)

My first experience with an Indian casino was in the interior of Washington State. It was just north of Manson by Lake Chelan. Several tribes were running three small casinos in the area and this one was the largest. It was just a bunch of mobile units pushed together with all sorts of slots, a few old video poker machines and a couple of blackjack tables. At the time of my visit casinos were still illegal in Washington but nobody had the guts to shut them down. They didn't have any liquor either. But the place actually kinda had some character and the machines were real (not the goofy ones that are in Washington's Indian casinos now.) And even though it was a technically illegal casino - there were bus tours from Vancouver to it. ( I drove.)

The place was (and still is) called the Mill Bay Casino. I haven't been there for quite awhile and it looks like they've gone goofy too.

[remano]

First, thanks MG for the enjoyable trip report and follow ups. And while I'm at it, thanks also, to others who have taken the time and trouble to post. I always read them but don't always express my appreciation as I should. Mea culpa.

On the subject of first experiences at Indian casinos, mine was in northern Minnesota probably 20 years ago. This was before the IGRA or state compacts and the general rule at the time was that a tribe could only offer the same types of games as could be found off the reservation. As a result, the local tribe had a high stakes bingo hall since bingo was already in every church around town, and they offered slot machines on the theory that these were glorified versions of the same random number games as were already available at the local sportsman's club and Jaycees raffles. Other casino games, however, were strictly discouraged.

Enter CASINO BINGO, in the form of two small tables in the corner of the bingo hall that looked suspiciously like blackjack tables. Each table had a bingo popper that held 52 ping-pong balls numbered from 1 to 10, comprised of sixteen 10's and 4 of each other number. Now, if you've guessed that the 1 could be counted as either 1 or 11 you'll understand why this looked unlike any other bingo game in the place but still pretty familiar. Players placed their bets, the dealer - er, bingo caller - placed two balls in a tray in front of each player and drew one for herself, the players would play out their hands - er, numbers - before the dealer drew a second ball and *bingo* a game of blackjack broke out.

After a few years the pit bosses got tired of chasing after the ping-pong balls that rolled off the tables and real cards were introduced. To get back on point, I suppose this was the beginning of the decline for Reno and other smaller gambling destinations.