Atlantic City

I took an overnight trip to Sin City East to contribute some of my hard earned dinero to the cause of making some people richer while making myself poorer. Amazingly it didn't work out that way as I got lucky and hit 5 Jacks (4 Jacks and a Joker) on a three line Video Poker machine on the deal. That gave me three lines of 5 of a kind at 400 to 1 which translated into 1200 quarters or $300. That was a once in a lifetime hit so I immediately cashed out. My wife managed to win about $400 playing the slots also through a single big hit.

WHOO-HOO, we win! At least this time we managed to beat the odds. Overall, since I tend to quit as soon as I get a good sized hit or reach a preset LOW limit, I'm about $400 to the good in Atlantic City and about $50 to the good in Vegas. The fact that I RARELY go helps a lot too.

A couple of random observations.

1. The new "everything electronic" approach leaves something to be desired. First you no longer get to hear the coins crashing down when there's a big hit and second, it takes a LOT less time to make the same number of plays (which is WHY I suppose the casinos love it so much).
2. How come Atlantic City casinos can't advertise slot machine odds like Las Vegas can? And how come while the payback in Vegas is typically about 98% Atlantic City gets away with 80%?
3. Can all the people that I see spinning the old slot machines really afford the money they are most probably going to lose?
4. I was sort of impressed that Atlantic City seems to be cleaning up its act a bit more away from the boardwalk. Used to be you didn't want to stray too far.
5. Some things never change and I noticed there were still psychic reader booths about every 100 yards on the boardwalk. Do that many people actually get readings?
6. Bally's (I usually stay at Bally's) appears to have cleaned up the beach area in front of the casino quite nicely. I'd say it's even comparable to other Jersey Shore locations.
7. Anybody know how to play Pai gow Poker?

Next up I think I might try Mohegan Sun.