MY RINCON TRIP – A Bloody Nose, A Fire Bet and a Royal Flush

[FABismonte]

FAB here. I wanted to share my own trip report.

Travel and Sight Seeing-- I only go to Harrah’s Southern California Resort (aka Rincon) about once a year but visited last weekend. I had a 80,000 Tier Credits – Diamond Aspirations trip (max $750 in airfare) expiring on March 31st so I decided to use it to fly down with my elderly mother for the weekend. I also had some coupons I could use when I was down there.

We flew into San Diego on Saturday morning, grabbed a rental car and drove to nearby Seaport Village. It was a bit of a tourist trap but we enjoyed walking around, enjoying the warm weather and seeing the Pacific Ocean. After lunch we tried to visit the USS Midway but the crowds and lack of parking drove us off. We then made the one hour drive to Rincon.

We had no problem checking in and getting the Coronado Suite our Rincon host reserved for us in the new North tower. The suite was great and had a wonderful large balcony. The Hotel front desk clerk, Crystal gave us the “Seven Stars basket” and loaded some extra water at our request. The basket had assorted nuts, fruit and bottles of Pepsi and water – it was a nice touch.

Coupons and Scoping Out the Joint – I went to the cashier and converted a “Travel Reimbursement” coupon for $400 in cash – no flight receipt requested. This meant I was able to double dip since Passport travel already paid for my Aspirations flight. I also had $215 in free play as well as a vague promise (only on-line) of “Mystery Cash” from March 1 to March 7th, and another offer from March 8th to March 15. I was to get $100 in free play twice from the Mystery Cash offer which popped up on the machines after about 30 minutes of play on March 7 and 8th respectively.

I checked out the Double Super Times Pay machines written about on this forum. There were a total of four of them. Two had limits of up to $0.25 – 10 play and the other two had limits of $0.50 – five times play. For all four the best games were 8/5 bonus which is attractive even if you needed to play 7 coins per hand to get a chance at the “Super Times Pay multiplier”. But all the machines were occupied – I saw at one of them a man getting a hand pay and guessed it was Dan Druff. My guess was confirmed later.

We used the two free buffets given daily to Seven Stars members. The buffet was good, not the level of the Bacchanal Buffet at Ceasars Las Vegas, but it was fine and the price was right. At the buffet I spotted Dan Druff and correctly guessed his identity, introduced myself, and had a nice chat.

To be continued . . .

[FABismonte]

Getting my Gambling On-- I set up my mom at a quarter slot machine and started playing the Video Poker Dream Card uprights at 8/5 Bonus in the High Limit Room. I played at the dollar level and made some money on four aces. But as I kept playing, including a shot at the highly volatile dream card mode, I started bleeding money.

I then tried my luck at the $0.50 – 5 play Double Super Times Pay machines and went up then down another $200. I sat at the machines that Dan Druff was using. The man playing the other identical machine to my left emitted a deep sigh, talked to his wife, then had a slot attendant take his machine out of commission while he took a break. After I walked off, I asked the attendant how long the machine could be taken off line and he said “For Seven Stars, 2 hours.” (The player never came back to the machine that night as far a I could see). Soon thereafter Dan Druff stopped by and we had a nice long chat. He said that the guy who walked away had lost thousands. After Dan went off, saying he would play only late that night, I finished playing video poker (down $500 total) and decided to give craps a whirl.

A Hot Crap Table -- For those not familiar with Rincon, craps there differs from other craps I have played. First, while dice are involved, the dice only indicate which cards should be flipped over from the 12 cards spread face down on the table prior to each roll. Second, almost every player has a captain’s chair. Third, there is a $5 limit on a Fire Bet and while you can bet up to a buck for the dealer, the aggregate active fire bets for the dealer is $5 on the pay out.

I buy in for $500 and place a maximum fire bets as I always do and choose to put a buck for the dealers as well. I place a $10 pass line (with full odds) and put $30 each on the six and eight It first I make some money but none after I start pressing. Then I start losing money. So now I have only $350 in my rack and the next shooter is a guy in his late 20s with about a thousand dollars in his rack, second to the left of the box. He picks up the dice, sets them and throws. I am not sure what he set the dice at and frankly since we are playing a card craps game, I have no idea why it makes any difference on setting dice.

Well, he gets a point of six to start his rolling and after a few rolls including other point numbers, he hits it. He then gets another six and then after quite a few rolls hits it. Then he does the same for the eight, then five. During this time he is hitting some hardways and I bet either $5 or $10 on the hardways and make some money. But never hits when I press the hardways. I am making money but do not press much of my bets during this time. BTW, he rolled a “three – four” and a “one-six” on the dice (one was red, the other green) but the associated cards were never a seven. So although a total of seven was rolled several times, an actual seven was not made on the table. For once I was quite happy with card craps. It actually got kind of fun when the dealer flipped one card, then hesitated and slowly flipped the other to reveal a hard eight – making me $90.

I now had about a thousand in chips in my rack and so broke even from the trip. I did not want to splash all the chips back on the table to press them as I was committed to not going to bed a loser. At this point, I saw the shooter asking the guy to his right to hand him a Kleenex box. The player reached into the pit and held open the box and the shooter grabbed a few tissues. I assumed he wanted to blow his nose, but after a while I saw that the shooter’s nose was bleeding. The game was paused as he took care of his plumbing and the dealers warned him to not put blood on the dice. I guess it was some kind of biohazard. The shooter then gets a point of four. If he repeats it, the fire bet players get paid 25 for 1. In my case it would mean at least $125 fire bet for four unique points. He rolls, then rolls, then rolls eventually the cards are flipped and it is a “one” and “three” for the fire bet hit.

Everyone at the table is happy. We had a pretty full at our table at the start of the roll and I count eleven fire bets out there all at the $5 limit, with eight of them with a one chip bet for the dealers. The only fire bet numbers not hit are the nine and the 10. A bunch of players, including me, make a nine and 10 hop bet but the shooter rolls another 4 on the come out. He then disappears to the nearest bathroom to take care of his nose bleed. It was weird, but for about five minutes there was no action on the table (other than a player adding a new bet once in a while). No one was angry at the shooter – after all we all knew he was bleeding and besides – he was making us money and no one wanted the luck to change.

So the shooter eventually shows up again and then rolls, then rolls, then rolls and finally gets another four. Now we set up a bunch of nine and 10 on the hop bets but once again, it is a four! But soon afterwards, he hits the four – pay the line!
By the way, I as making line bets for the dealers and also placed $6 bets on the six and eight for the dealers with instructions to keep them up. So the dealers are making money from me on all those rolls.

Once again the shooter comes out with a bunch (including me) on the nine and 10 on the hop – and he rolls a ten!. For some reason, the stick pays everyone but me. I complain – loudly – and demand payment. The stick guy was confused as to who bet and did not think I did. Well I am a friendly guy, and I am making bets for the dealers, but I refuse to be cheated.

Eventually, the stick talks to the pit boss and I finally get paid over some grumbling. I am irritated. But since I got paid, I calm down. I had thought about laying against the fifth fire bet number as insurance but decided it was not worth it facing a point of ten. After two rolls, the cards are flipped revealing a “four” and a “six”! Yippee! That is five fire bet numbers. Eight players, including yours truly, just made at least $1,250 on the fire bet! This is the first time I had been on a five fire bet that paid off.

After the table calms down, the players start loading up the nine “on the hop”. I, however, refuse to do so since it was so hard for to get paid on that bet --even when I won. The shooter rolls and sets a point of five. I now start to aggressively parley my bets. He rolls and rolls and then hits the five – pay the line. The shooter then set and hits another point (not the ten). Then he establishes yet another four, then sevens out.

We never get to a point of nine, but a big round of applause is given. After the regular bets are taken cared of, the Fire Bets are paid. I see ten $25 chips placed behind five fire bets for the dealers. Only the first five are paid the fire bet payoff and the other three $1 fire bets for the dealers are simply dropped into the tip box. But there were plenty of smiles for the dealers as they dropped $1,250 in chips from the fire bet into the tip box. I did not feel bad I did not bet on the fire for the dealers as it would have been ineligible for the bonus.

In the meantime, during that 55 minute roll (one hour minus 5 minute bathroom break) a couple of players bought in and since they were ineligible to make a Fire Bet at that time, they looked enviously at the payoffs being made. But I happily took my own $1,250 payment for the fire bet and put them in my shirt pocket. The players then passed the dice around the table back to the “nose bleed kid” who hit two points before sevening out.

The next shooter was a seven –out and I cash out. I had $1,500 in my rack (plus $1,250 in my pocket) so I made $2,250 at the table, and a net of $1,750 since I entered Rincon. I know that the odds say the Fire Bet is a sucker bet with an advantage of to the house of 20% but there is nothing more exciting that building up to that payoff and hitting a fire bet – it was even better than a jackpot on a machine as the whole table (or at least the ones betting on the fire with you) screams with equal delight. At any rate I am now very much ahead on fire bets in my lifetime.

To be continued. . .

[FABismonte]

May I Have That in a Check? – After leaving the craps table, I decide that I needed to play some video poker to get some tier credits. Ceasars tables are notorious for not giving much comps for table play. So I decided to play video poker again. The Double Super Times Pay machines were occupied so I happily went to the 3 and 5 play dollar machines in the High Limit room. I was playing 8/5 Bonus and frankly was happy with the decreased volatility. After about 20 minutes of triple play, I held a Q, A, and K in diamonds and out popped on the bottom row a J and 10 in diamonds! The middle row was a flush. When the slot attendant came, I asked for a check so I could not stuff the money back into the machine. I wish I had my cell phone but I left it to charge in the room so no photo for the crowd to gawk at. Eventually I was given a check for $4,025.

I then kept hammering away essentially breaking even going forward until I accumulated 2,500 base tier points. I then went upstairs, got my cell phone and went back down to take a photo of my winnings (no principle) in chips and check at the now empty craps table I played at. I wanted the craps layout as a backdrop. You can see the photo here.

To be continued. . .

[FABismonte]

Sunday (the Sabbath) -- The next morning, Sunday, we went to the buffet for brunch (again free for Seven Stars) and then I went to the craps table for about half an hour as my mom wanted me to drive her to church at a 11:30 AM service. I only lost $50 bucks and then asked to color out. It was a friendly table and the guy to my left ask me why I was leaving so soon. I told him “You tell you elderly mom you are not taking her to church on a Sunday because you want to play craps!” He laughed and the guy to my right chimed in “Good luck with that!”

We went to the Pala Mission next to the Pala Casino. It was about 10 miles away it was a very nice service. There were quite a few people in the old mission built by the Spanish (original flooring). But no doubt a lot of tribal gaming money was spent refurbishing it as it was extremely well maintained. I was a nice break from the casino and my mom and I even asked a parishioner to take photos of us near the altar.

We got back in time for a complimentary spa using a coupon at Rincon. A massage for me, a facial for mom. It was relaxing and I also used the sauna and was taught the “secret entrance” to the work out room. We had some hot dogs at Pinks to tied us over until dinner.

After a bit of gambling we had dinner at Fiore the Rincon steakhouse. It was nice but the crab cakes were not good. I really like the seasoned Baltimore type crab cakes and the ones at Fiore were just balled up crab meat then pan fried. The steaks were good – as usual.

I spent the rest of the day playing some craps and video poker but really only slowly dribbled out money. After I lost a grand of my winnings, and hit the 1,000 tier level that day, I called it a trip.

In the room I watched the pay-per view movie “The Gambler”. Seven Stars get a $50 media credit which you can use for wifi as well as movies. It was pretty ironic that I was watching a movie about a problem gambler at a Harrah’s run casino. I was deeply troubled with the beginning as the main character would never stop when he was ahead and really wrecked his relationship with his mother. Further the ending seemed a bit too out of it. But it was free and I was able to fast forward when I wanted.

I had to grab an early flight out to get back to work Monday morning. It was particularly painful as it was daylight savings so I lost an extra hour of sleep to boot. However, coming home a significant winner cures many ailments.

Regards, FAB

[Dan Druff]

Thanks for the trip report. I read all of it, and it looks like a trend is forming here with long Rincon trip reports!

Anyway, again, I enjoyed meeting you.

One small correction:

The Double Super Times machines ALL have 50c mode. Two just have 25c/50c, and the other two have 5c/10c/25c/50c. All four pay the same at the 50c level, so it didn't matter to me which one I played.

Interesting that you got a suite. After all of my play this past week, they still didn't give me a suite for my next reservation!

I didn't press it, because I'll be by myself, and it doesn't really matter. I'll pick my battles for more important things.

[Alan Mendelson]

Thanks for the great report.

I was interested in the bloody nose. I recall an incident at Caesars where a player put his hand into his pocket and cut his hand on a pocket knife that he didn't realize was open.

Well, when he took his hand out of his pocket, tiny drops of blood fell on the table and the chips.

The game was immediately stopped.

Players near him were told to leave their chips in the rail, chips on the table were counted, and replacement chips were given to the players on that side of the table.

Then a Caesars HAZMAT crew was brought in. No kidding. In protective gear, masks, goggles, gloves and they decontaminated the table, the chips, the area. They even scrubbed the felt. They might have replaced the felt later, I don't know, but they were there for several hours.

My understanding is that if ever there is blood anywhere, a Hazmat crew of some sort must be called in and the game is shut down and players moved and replacement chips issued.

[Dan Druff]

I'm glad I don't get bloody noses. I think the last time I had one was when I was a kid and a baseball hit me in the nose.

[Nash]

FAB,

I am curious about your $400 travel reimbursement. What was that for?

[FABismonte]

FAB,

I am curious about your $400 travel reimbursement. What was that for?

Hi Nash:

I get monthly coupons in the mail from Rincon for free play, SPA, food and travel reimbursement. I do not live within driving distance of Rincon. I presume I am getting travel reimbursement coupons to encourage me to fly to San Diego to visit Rincon. Usually the travel coupons range from $300 to $400. Sorry I did not get to meet you and Mr. Nash last weekend (of course I may not have been able to get past the bouncer to greet you).

FAB

[FABismonte]

Thanks for the trip report. I read all of it, and it looks like a trend is forming here with long Rincon trip reports!

Anyway, again, I enjoyed meeting you.

One small correction:

The Double Super Times machines ALL have 50c mode. Two just have 25c/50c, and the other two have 5c/10c/25c/50c. All four pay the same at the 50c level, so it didn't matter to me which one I played.

Interesting that you got a suite. After all of my play this past week, they still didn't give me a suite for my next reservation!

I didn't press it, because I'll be by myself, and it doesn't really matter. I'll pick my battles for more important things.

Hi Dan:

I stand corrected on the Double Super Times machines.

I believe I get the suites at Rincon because when my wife is with me she likes the $1 or $5 reel slot machines. As you can guess, any casino makes a LOT more theoretical (and probably actual) wins on those than on Video Poker. My mother was "only" working the twenty five cent slot machines last weekend.

However, I do not suggest playing reel slot machines as a cost effective way to get a suite.

Again, it was great to meet you last weekend. Sorry I did not connect with Aaron. I guess he was too busy collecting handpays at the High Limit Salon.

FAB

[FABismonte]

Thanks for the great report.

I was interested in the bloody nose. I recall an incident at Caesars where a player put his hand into his pocket and cut his hand on a pocket knife that he didn't realize was open.

Well, when he took his hand out of his pocket, tiny drops of blood fell on the table and the chips.

The game was immediately stopped.

Players near him were told to leave their chips in the rail, chips on the table were counted, and replacement chips were given to the players on that side of the table.

Then a Caesars HAZMAT crew was brought in. No kidding. In protective gear, masks, goggles, gloves and they decontaminated the table, the chips, the area. They even scrubbed the felt. They might have replaced the felt later, I don't know, but they were there for several hours.

My understanding is that if ever there is blood anywhere, a Hazmat crew of some sort must be called in and the game is shut down and players moved and replacement chips issued.

Hi Alan:

The dice crew did get a little nervous about the bloody nose. The whole table noticed the dice being replaced when "bloody nose kid" was finished with this Fire Bet roll. I was not sure if they were doing it because of the biohazard issue or whether they always do it after a Fire Bet hits. Also I wonder if the Fire Bet dice got any special examination afterwards.

Oddly, since the dice was passed all the way around back to the kid, the bio hazard situation was not fully ameliorated.

Perhaps they did not do the full Hazmat treatment since it was an Indian Casino and so did not have the type of liability and procedures of a licensed casino in Las Vegas. Just try arguing a case before a tribal court that your indirect exposure to blood on a dice table caused you damages.

FAB

[Alan Mendelson]

Funny: I've never seen the dice changed at Rincon. The cards get changed routinely but I've never seen the dice changed.

[Nash]

Sorry we didn't get to meet you too. We ended up working all weekend so we never made it down to Rincon. I think I am going on Saturday.