Annual Potawatomi Trip 2023

Welcome to our annual Potawatomi Casino trip, in downtown Milwaukee. I like the Pot. You should like the Pot too! I keep saying, after every stay, I should come here more often. The rooms are great, the casino is fantastic and the slots seem more than fair. So why aren't  you reading about a new Pot Trip every other month or so? It's 2 fucking hours from home!

Is it worth the drive? Yeah, I'd say so. But its still a pain in the asshole to deal with. And conning the wife into taking me isn't as easy as it used to be. But this time I'm bringing the OG Family. My Dad and two brothers. No shopping or museum side trips, like in the past. This is for straight up debauchery!

Last time I was here, I hit for a couple decent Handpay's. So I know how to win. At least that is what I told myself when I booked the room. 

I knew they updated the casino from my last stay, which was just over a year ago by now. They gutted their second floor, which was just a waste of space in the before times. What was once a massive Bingo hall, food court and way too much useless convention space. Has been transformed into yet another massive casino space, with nearly 750 additional slot machines. $200MIL well spent IMO!

We had a couple rooms comped, and we split off in packs of two to drop off our shit. No fancy suite or anything for me, but even their standard rooms are very nice and comfortable. 

$275 in free play isn't much, but its a start!

The Pot uses roaming free play, which is nice. Since you don't have to download a set amount on your machine to start with. Which was great, as I snagged a Quick Hit for $338.42 right away, and I was off to the races! I think I only used like $50 of that free play on this one. 

I fart around on that ticket, on anything that catches my eye. The whole Kid in a Candy Shop thing and all. Even though I have been to the Pot plenty of times, I've never been in this new casino they just built. And I see plenty of things I want to play. We try to gamble as a herd. But everyone seems to want to play something different. So we stick to just playing within shouting range of someone in the group. 

After donking off some money on a few slots, I get the random bonus on Cleo Gold for $178. Lose some of that, and hit for $113 on whatever the fuck this game is. I was only playing that oriental game, since it was next to my Dad. 

The new casino space is pretty nice. It feeds off a Rock N Roll vibe, with massive LED displays wrapping the columns and walls. Its a neat effect, and adds some ambient lighting to the room as you play. 

I finally found the Zorro game I have been meaning to play, and it was sorta "Meh". I was about $120 into it when I hit for $120 so no harm no foul I guess. But overall not very exciting. 

But after getting that big $340 hit to start off this session, I was just nibbling mediocre wins of about a hundo since. Still, I'd rather be winning a little than losing a lot. I just like to bitch I guess. But I finally got a decent $224 hit on this Money Slam game I found, and now I'm up $450 in about 45 minutes of playing!

Then, I fucked up! I sat way too long at this Take it or Leave it slot. Spinning $15 a push. I was down $360 on it, with my $450 TITO now down to $90.

And wouldn't you know it, Bam! $360 win! Right back to $450! That was close, I almost fucked up too soon in the day. 

So what do you do when you dig yourself out of a hole? Start a new hole! I had the whole Angel VS Devil on my shoulder thing going on. "Take the money and run dummy". "You just won $360, don't be a pussy and quit"

I played on, cause I'm a degen. And I hit for another $120. And now my high water mark is just over $500.

And then I lost it. Well, most if it anyway. Some back and forth on the below. With just these two $100 hit to show for it. And I blew that $500 TITO. Still, that's a good 90 minutes of play, and I am only down the free play money they gave me.

I gambled on, and couldn't hit shit for the next 30 minutes or so. And I actually dropped about $500 of "my" money. I found one of my brothers playing a Rocky slot, so I played by him for a bit and cashed out about even. No clue why I even played the below game near Rocky, as it isnt something I'd typically take a stab at. But I'm glad I did!

First spin bonus on an $8.00 max bet. I honestly dont know what the fuck happened in the bonus. I landed what I thought was a $10.00 bill in a magnifying glass. But I guess that $10 was times 10 for my bet level. So $100. And I had a 12X multiplier in the bonus. Long story short, $1,840 Handpay!

All my money back, and I'm up like $1300. Man, I really should play here more often. Now drunk with money and a lust to lose it, I do just that! I piss away a hundo here, and a hundo there. Everyone is getting hungry by now, as we just put in a good 3 hours of gambling. But I am trying for one more big hit, so as to not waste my assumed heater I try to convince myself I am on. 

I manage to make a small push, and get some of that money back. $100 on Cash Machine. 

Which I turn into $320, after a decent $140 win on fancy Texas Tea. But then sat too long on fancy Cleo, betting $10 a spin. $10 bonus with increasing multipliers, and I only won $201? Lame. 

Not to be outdone, I almost pissed away all the above money this round, before getting a lousy $108 bonus on a $10.20 bet. But don't worry, I lost that as well!

By the time we actually get to the new food court on the main level, I lost about $300 of the $1300 I was up. But still up a Grand!

If you read my Trip Report on Resorts World, you'd have heard about this stupid kiosk ordering trend casinos are into these days. You cant walk up to a food stall and order your food. That would be too easy. You have to order it from a touchscreen on the other side of the dining hall, then watch a TV screen for your order to be called. Then go pickup your food. 

What this saves the casino, I have no idea. But its a super pain in the dick if you order food from more than one stall. And really saves you nothing when it comes to time.

It took a good 25 minutes for 2 hamburgers to be ready. And even then, when I went to the counter. Nothing was in bags/trays, with about a dozen other people waiting in a circle for their food. Don't put the names on the screen until its actually ready you dummies!

The food itself, was kinda shit. The burger was greasy and the small flavorless bread was soggy. On the plus side, the thin fries were cold. So at least they fucked that up too! And my milkshake, which I had to wait another 5 minutes for since that was not ready, when they said my order was. Was too thick to actually drink. They just filled up a cup from the soft serve machine, and pretended like that was a shake. 

All in for 2 shitty burgers, a pop and soft serve cup with a tiny order of cold fries, was $40. And the machine we ordered from had the electronic balls to ask if I wanted to pre-tip! Come on Pottawatomie, do better!

Back to the gambling. I'm up a grand! I still have all my money, plus a good chunk of theirs. And even though I pissed and moaning about the shitty food, that was still comped anyway. We finally head over into what was the original casino. This place has grown by fits and spurts over the years.

First game I play this round, I hit for $447.50 on. Not too shabby! They have the new NFL slot machines, and I play that using the Bears as my team. And I had a typical Chicago Bears experience, and lost a few hundred bucks. 

I play around slowly losing some money, but honestly getting a ton of play. Then I see a set of Conan slots. I asked one of my Brothers if they wanted to play with me. And he said "Only you win on those". And you know what? He was right! I do win on these!

$10 max bet, and I was into this slot for about $200 before getting the bonus. I was down to $50 on what was once a $525 ticket just 30 minutes prior. And the bonus was pretty much shit, until the last spin. I had only won $22, before hitting for another $2,120 on a 7X wheel spin. Handy number 2 on the day, just like I assumed I'd get. And this one was for $2,142!

Fuck being up just $1,000. Now I am up over $3,000!

Another heater? You betcha! I started with a hundo on the below Sphinx game, and hit for $220, $109 and finally got the bonus for $259. I cashed out on that one with a $517 TITO. Up $417 more for this round now

I was about $100 in on the below, chasing the Major at $1,791. Which is pretty high IMO, and must hit by $2K. The game froze, and the "winner" screen came on. And I just knew I hit for that $1800!

Nope. It was the Minor at $196.40. Which must hit by $300, and starts at $175. So it popped pretty early. I kept playing, and ended up getting the bonus for $407. Which is really solid for this game. And now I am up to a $973 TITO, which puts me up like $4,000 on the day!

I have already been gambling for a good 5 hours by now. We ran around the city picking everyone up, made the long drive here. And I played over $12,000 of coin in already. Smart me would take the money and run. Leave these morons to chase their loses, and I could head up to bed.

Have you all learned nothing about me by now? Let's Go!

I pop that $973 ticket into this Persian Fortunes game I play. Why, I cant say. No one ever seems to play these games except for me. I'm always alone, and the Pot has a bunch of them for some reason. I rip off a bonus on it for $259. But I guess their system wont let you hold a TITO for over $1200, which is stupid. So it shits out a ticket for the win. 

I go cash out both tickets, and by now my wallet wont even close. So I start feeding $5's and $20's into a slot, to make room for all my hundred dollar bills. By now I am Howard Hughes. "Who wants to see me play in the High Limit Room"? "Come on Chumps, I'll put on a show for you all"!

I lose $200 here, $300 there before I finally start winning on Casper, which I got a handy on my last trip here. $27 a spin, so it takes some balls to play. But the smaller progressives hit frequently, and I land a couple wins of $235 and $216.

So I lost $500 in the HL room. Got back my $500 playing Casper. And then sunk that $500 into the below. I was down to $22, which was still a gut punch. And made my final $20 bet, which hit for $678! Suck it Indians! 

I'd be a liar if I said I went to bed after that. I mean, I should have, but you never know how the dice will roll. I pissed away more than I'd have liked to. But with the way my luck was going all day, I cant beat myself up for it. For all I know, if I would have kept pushing I would have hit another decent jackpot. 

But all in all, I head up to bed with $3,000 of their money. And that ain't nothing! Good Night Milwaukee. Thanks for the free room, free food and free $3K...

It was hard to sleep after all that. I kept thinking, I'll just take another grand down and play some more. After all, they are all still awake and playing. But my laziness outweighs my eagerness to get dressed again and try.

I do wake up before everyone else, and I do give myself another $500 to play with the next morning. I just wont use my card, as I managed to play through over $15,000 last night. And that should get me some good offers. I'd be a fool to cut my average down with just $500 bucks in play. 

Below is one of at least a dozen new places to eat here. This being some Kiss themed restaurant. 

And as for that $500? Well, I pissed it away in about an hour. By the time one of my Brothers found me, I had less than a hundo to play with. My luck had to run out sooner or later...

Or did it? $558 bonus on the below, and now I'm up another $100 on the trip!

I did piss away $200 playing Little Shop of Horrors with a different Brother. But made one final attempt on a Top Dollar machine before checking out. And I won $260 on it. Making even check out day, a winning day!

Instead of eating the overpriced trash at the casino, we head to the Mars Cheese Castle for some grub on our way back to Chicago. It was good, cheap and filling. I ended up dropping $50 on flavored popcorn for the wife and kids. So mark Mars down, as my one losing stop this weekend. 

Bonus coverage! So the above trip was on a Saturday night in December. Being year end, I had some vacation day to kill. So I took off from work that Monday, and with a pocket full of cash. Where else would I go?

To a casino! Hollywood Aurora to be precise. Not the best place to play, but close enough to my house. I went 3 for 3 on gambling days over this weekend, and take a couple hundred bucks off them as well. 

Its been years since I had a winning Vegas trip. Hell, I have only had a handful of winning days in Vegas over the past decade! I know I keep joking about becoming Local's Grid, and ditching Vegas Grid. But now I am seriously considering it...

One last thing from Hollywood casino. How the fuck is this only $90, on a $7.50 bet? Since when did Ravens pay so shitty? I thought I lined up my 3rd Handy in 3 days, but nope.