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Slots Mickey's Roadplayer Blog

Discussion in 'Slots Forum' started by Mickey Crimm, Sep 16, 2016.

  1. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    It seems that some people on this forum are concerned about a man my age having to run through casinos to eke out a living. They are also concerned about whether I am on government assistance....and what my eating habits are. Do I eat in soup kitchens, etc. I thank them for their concern.

    I am not on government assistance. I AM eligible for SS. Have I filed for it? No. Why? Because I can afford not to file now and in the end I will get a bigger check for it.

    I don't work near as much as I used to. Why? Because I can afford not to. I got home from my last roadtrip a week before the 4th of July. I decided that my next road trip would not be until after Labor Day. Why? Because I can well afford to take the time off. So I took all of July and August off.

    In August I took a trip to Juneau, Alaska for a family reunion. My 81 year old mother is in assisted living in Juneau. All the kids were there. I didn't drive. Its to much of a hassle. I kicked back on Amtrak from Havre to Seattle then flew to Juneau. A week later I took the same way back.

    So now its a week past Labor Day and I think to myself I need to get out and do something. Its road trip time. So I took off last Sunday. I'm not going to name towns. I don't need anyone on my back trail

    The only thing I get comped in Montana bar/casinos is coffee. I could get all the comped booze I want but I don't drink on road trips. There is no such thing as room and meal comp here. This is a totally different gambling culture than the big markets. We're talking little 20 machine slot parlors with a max bet of $2. They cater to their local townspeople who already have housing. And they have never had to feed the people to get them into their casinos.

    There are slot clubs here but no slot cards. They track your play via a mainframe computer and you can get half percent freeplay. Some days there are double and triple points for certain hours. I refuse to join the slot clubs. No way in hell will I let them track my action. All they will see is I'm beating the hell out of them. I won't give them that information. They leave you alone if you don't want to join. Its not like Nevada where they jam you up to get a card.

    I don't blow the money I make in these towns on 5 star hotels. I stay in the Mom and Pops or the Hotel 6's. My objective is to extract as much money as I can from the casinos but leave as little of it as possible at the hotels.

    Now, for the soup lines. I admit I'm not an expensive eater either. But I WILL blow $40 at a Red Lobster. Unfortunately, the only RL in the state is in Billings. In the mornings I will hit a combination restaurant/bar/casino for breakfast. I'm not a meat eater in the morning. Just two eggs over medium, hash browns smothered in Tobasco Sauce, sourdough toast, coffee and water. While waiting on the meal I check the machines for short term advantage plays so I have them lined up after I eat.

    For lunch I mix it up between Asian, American, and Mexican. I'm a big sucker for Mongolian Beef with fried rice. If it's American then its like a burger and fries or a BLT and fries, or a Patty Melt and fries....or a whatever and fries. If it's Mexican then just give me the tacos with the hottest sauce you have and get out of here.

    For lunch today I hit a little Asian joint and ordered Szcehuan Beef. They have a little slot parlor and I picked up a few nickel and dime plays. I made $33 waiting for lunch. I left them $13 with the tip so netted $20 while having lunch.

    At dinner I like a meal at one of the nicer local establishments. I didn't make it to one today. I was running late driving back to the hotel for the football game so hit the Mcdonald's drive through for a burger, fries, bottle of water....and made it back to the hotel just in time for kickoff.

    In this town some of the casinos are open 24/7. I love the 24 hour towns because I can get up and haul ass to the casinos at any time of the morning.
     
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  2. MrV

    MrV Well-Known Member

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    Occupation:
    attorney at law (retired)
    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    The absolute WORST Chinese food I ever ate was at a restaurant in Montana.

    Late 80's, my young son and I had spent a week camping and sightseeing in Yellowstone / Jackson and were headed back home.

    Not sure which city it was in, either Bozeman, Butte or Missoula, but it was downtown and oh, so abominable.

    Neither of us puked it up, which I suppose counts as a win.
     
  3. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    I woke up at 4:30 AM and jumped in the shower. I don't use alarm clocks. It's now about 5 minutes after 5. I'm about to walk out the door. Let's go make some money.
     
  4. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    I had to drag up at 3:30 today but I'm beat. I had to blow off lunch to because its frickin' friday in this town. But I'm fixing to step over to the Mongolian Grill next door for a nice meal before the joint gets crowded.

    When I jumped in the car this morning the first order of business was to put the classic rock station on blast. Tom Petty living like a refugee on the way to the first casino.

    I find a little keno play. When you play your numbers the machine makes two picks. Anytime one of those numbers hits it clicks the counter up one increment. With a two-spot you will average catching one number every two spins. When the counter gets to 84 you go into a bonus round where you start with 7 free games and a 2X multiplier. The machine also makes two picks in the free games. With one of the picks, if it hits you get another free game. So in a good round you can wind up with 15 or twenty free games. When the other machine pick hits it increases the multiplier by one increment. It a good round you can run the multiplier up to 9X or 10X. The bonus round is worth about 32 bets average.

    Its a $1 bet. The regular payscale is only about 50%. So the average cost to catch a machine pick is 50 cents. I found the meter count at 64. Thats an average cost of $10 to get the meter up to 84. So there is $22 worth of expectation sitting there. On turbo speed the play spins off in just a few minutes. I booked an $18 win.

    Same game on the same machine at the $2 bet level the counter is on 76. The expectation is an $8 loss to spin it off and a $64 win in the bonus round. I made $48 on the play. So I booked a $66 win on my first session of the day. No more plays in that joint so I head to another one. Neil Young is rocking in the free world on the drive over.

    next post....
     
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  5. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    So I hit the next casino. I find 3 plays on one machine. It' the same game just different bet levels. There are 4 bet levels, 50/1/1.5/2. This is a non-discussion game (ND for short). I don't tell anyone about this game. The cost to spin it off can be anywhere from 12 to nineteen bets depending on how many clicks it needs to get me to the bonus round. The bonus round is worth 28 bets. The game has a ton of variance. I've payed as much as 90 bets to get to the bonus round and I've been ahead by as much as 60 bets by the time I get to the bonus round. The bonus round has a ton of variance to. I've blanked out the bonus round as many as 8 times straight. And I've racked up as many as 369 bets in the bonus round. But through the long haul of it the cost is 12 to nineteen bets and the bonus round is worth 28 bets.

    I order my breakfast sent to the casino and get to work. Each play takes just a few minutes to complete. I always start with the low bet level first. On the first play I make $11. The second play I lose $22. The third play was on the $2 level and I racked it up. I booked a $208 win. They brought out my breakfast. So I booked a $197 win during breakfast. No more plays in that joint so I loaded up after I ate. Mellancamp is hurtin' so good on the way to the next joint. That lucky stiff has been boning Christie Brinkley lately. I wouldn't kick her out of bed unless there is more room on the floor.

    In the next joint I find the same play as the first of the morning. But this play only has about $4 expectation. These low roller plays drag my hourly rate down. But I have to play it off anyway. Never give a ploppy a chance to get a clue. If I walk from the play some ploppy might come along and decide to play the game. He see's that he got to the bonus round early. Then the lightbulb goes off in his head. Hey, that was easy. "Maybe I should check the other bet levels (there are 8 bet levels from 25 cents to $2) to see what the counts are. As a matter of fact maybe I should check all the bet levels on these other machines too." So now you have competition. Fuck that. Spin the damn play off.

    Next post....
     
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  6. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    In the next joint I played off two ND plays to win $103. Then I find a line game play. This is an unusual game. There are progressive meters on it but thats not the play. There is a free game progressive on it. It starts at two games. There is a symbol on the last reel that when it appears it adds one game to the free game progressive. The symbol appears an average of every 143 games. This is the importance of reading the rules of the game. In the small print it says every free game is worth an average of 7 bets. You can bet anywhere from 25 cents to $2 on this game. So if you are betting 25 cents then the average free game is worth $1.75, if you are betting 50 cents then the average free game is worth $3.5, etc.

    Here's what I figured out about this game. Its a static bonus. The first two games already banked are worth $1.75. If a player sits down and bets $1, and banks one game into the meter then that free game is worth $7. Now, if you decrease your bet down to 25 cents and go into the bonus round, then the first two free games will be worth $1.75 and the other free game will be worth $7 making the average value of a free game $3.50.

    If I find this game with say 10 free games banked I'm going to grab a seat. There is no way to tell what the previous player who banked those free games in was betting. The best case scenario is he was betting $2. If thats the case then 8 of those free games is going to be worth $14 and two will be worth $1.75 for an average of $11.55 per free game.

    I only bet 25 cents when I find a play. There are scatter symbols on the first three reels. When they hit all at the same time, frequency 120, you get to spin the wheel. There are 69 stops. fourty-four of those stops give a nominal monetary value. Twenty-five of those stops gives you the free games. So you have a 36.2% chance, or 1 in 2.76, of getting the free games.

    120 X 2.76 means the average number of spins to get the free games is 331. Its a 25 cent bet with a 20% drop. So the average cost to get to the bonus round is a little less than $17.

    I got two plays on this game today. The first one had 10 free games up. In the bonus round the average value of each free game was $3.63. The second one had 15 games banked and the average value turned out to be $4.37. I booked a $35 win on the first and a $53 win on the second.

    Next post....
     
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  7. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    I consider each machine to be its own session. If I switch machines thats a new session. I put in 23 sessions today. Seventeen sessions were winners and 6 sessions were losers. On one play I dumped $102. It ain't all peaches and cream. Just because you have the big edge doesn't mean you win every session. My winning sessions totaled to $956. My losing sessions totaled to $239. A net win of $717.

    Now, let's put everything into perspective. Why did I do so well today? I experienced a lot of positive variance on the ND plays today. On 16 plays I averaged over 60 bets per bonus round where the average is just 28 bets. Tomorrow I could go out and lose 7 or eight times in a row on this game....and it does happen.

    Early this morning I switched from the 24 hour joints to the day joints. I wanted them out of the way so i had 24 hour access to the plays on the end of my stay here. I had all the day joints knocked down by 1:30 PM. Friday afternoon traffic is a bitch in this town. So I headed to the
    outlier joints around the town. There is another logistical problem I always experience. By 3 PM on Fridays the ploppies are out in full force. Too many asses in the seats. I frickin' can't check machines for plays. So I drug up for the day.

    I still have a few 24 hour joints to hit. I'll hit them early tomorrow morning then hit the road....
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2016
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  8. appistappis

    appistappis Member

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    how many years have you been at this??
     
  9. Blackhole

    Blackhole Active Member

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    I don't know if I should congratulate you or feel sorry for you at your age.
     
  10. Junket King

    Junket King Well-Known Member Compulsive Liar

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    Occupation:
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    Manage the LIARS & you Control the Game
    Kudos Micky for sharing this insight. I'm a bit surprised you are able to find so many machines worth playing with no prior stake out, sounds too easy even if you do know what you're doing.
     
  11. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    Good morning, appi. The middle of next month will mark my 20th anniversary as a machine pro.
     
  12. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    Here's a little secret, BH. My bankroll is in six figures. If I wouldn't to I could go ahead and retire, file for SS, and sit in a rocking chair for the rest of my life. But who in the hell wants to do that?
     
  13. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    Hi, JK. Twenty years of accumulated knowledge and experience. Yes, it is easy for me. There is not a machine game in a legal jurisdiction anywhere in the world I can't analyze for exploitability. Nine-nine percent of the games are no goes. Its that other 1%. I'll explain the concept in another post. Right now I have to hit a few casinos on my way out of town. Take care.
     
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  14. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    Blackhole, sorry for putting you on blast the other night. I was drunker than a three headed billy goat. I'll put up a play you might find in AC when I get the chance.
     

  15. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    So today is the 7th day of the road trip. My first five days i pulled out a $2216 earn for a daily average of $443. Yesterday was my best day at $717. That brings my daily average up to $489, still about $80 a day under par.

    My expenses:

    Hotel......$331
    Gas.........$44
    Meals.......$165

    Total......$540

    So I have a net earn of $2393 working.

    Time to hit the road, guys. Take care.
     
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  16. redietz

    redietz Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for posting these. It's very interesting day-in-the-life stuff.
     
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  17. redietz

    redietz Well-Known Member

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  18. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    I covered a 60 mile stretch of road today. About 10 casinos along the highway and a half dozen in the town on the end. I put in another 23 short sessions today. Fifteen winning sessions and 8 losing sessions. The winning sessions totaled to $679, the losing sessions $203, so a net earn of $476.

    I have 7 completed days in and a $3409 earn.

    My expenses:

    Hotel.....$409
    Gas.........$64
    Meals....$189

    Total....$662

    So a net earn of $2747.

    Tomorrow I'll be taking a long stretch of highway with not that many casinos on it until I get to the end.
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2016
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  19. Wizardofnothing

    Wizardofnothing Well-Known Member

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    Mickey what is your target for the trip net as a whole
     
  20. Mickey Crimm

    Mickey Crimm Well-Known Member

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    I don't have a target amount of money to make. I have an old established route I run. My objective is to find and play off as much expectation as I can within the limits of a working day. For about 4 and a half years my expectation was $570 a day. But my last road trip I think I came in about half of that. I got hit with a perfect storm. When one of the manufacturers installs new games or updates software the meter and/or banking features go back to reset. The progressive money disappears. That is illegal in Nevada but not here. So those machines are dead in the water to me until the meters and/or banking features build back up. That can take months.

    When I started my last road trip I quickly discovered that 3 manufacturers decided to install new games or update their software at the same time. That knocked my dick in the dirt by cutting my expectation in half. That's been a few months ago. Its why I took the whole summer off. Some of the games have come back with meter buildup but there are four super strong games, when found with the right amount of money in the meters, or banking features close to giving a jackpot, that the ploppies are just not giving enough action to anymore. I don't know when those plays will come back.

    I'm doing better than the last road trip. My daily average so far is $487. But another part of it is the number of days it takes me to run the route. Depending on how many plays I found the trip would take two to three weeks. But on this trip it looks like I will be home in another 3 or four days....meaning because of the loss in expectation I'm working fewer days and for less money.

    Once I finish a trip I have to give these towns 4 to six weeks soak time for the plays to build back up. So that $570 a day average I used to have came with a caveat. I never could do that 365 days a year. Once I knock a town down there is nothing to do there but twiddle your thumbs for a month or so until the plays build back up. It's why I ran road trips on a two month cycle. A few weeks on the road and 5 or six weeks at home. And it looks like I will be getting to spend more time at home for the forseeable future.
     
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