If there are chippers who like to play the VP machines in Las Vegas as well as pick up chips, here are some notes from my trip last week. On the advice of the experts at Las Vegas Advisor, I learned the Double Bonus strategy and can now play a pretty good intermediate game (99% of theoretical return). If you find a place with good slot card program you can make more than you put in when you figure in comps and can play at the expert level. If you are playing mid-week, look for one of the casinos that pays multiple slot-club points (2x, 3x, sometimes up to 5x).

The best machines are those that pay 10-7 for full-house and flush. I didn't find any of these at the strip locations I tried; they can be found downtown and at the off strip locations. I played them at Arizona Charlies and at Sunset Station. Almost as good are the 9-7 pay machines, which are at several strip clubs, but you have to look for them (don't play the 9-6 machines, which are most common). Flamingo has the 9-7 quarter machines in a progressive arrangement for the Royal Flush. These are good any time the progressive pays over about $1200 (I think they reset to about $1400, as a matter of fact). Also found 9-7's at a few other places, Sahara for example, but you have to look; they are usually in an out of the way location in the casino.

Hit no Royals on this trip, but I did hit 4 Aces 3 times. One of them was a dollar machine at Rio where I was taking advantage of their "$100 losses reimbursement" for 30 minutes of play by new club members. I was at 28 minutes and down $150 when the 4 Aces hit for $800! Didn't get my losses paid back, but the machine payout kind of made up for it <g>.

Good luck in July!