Stalking The UTH Gods In Aruba

Took the UTHguy family to Aruba for some rest and relaxation. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and the management treated us very nicely with welcome amenities and personal attention. I had opened a credit line at the Hyatt casino, but I would never end up using it. The information about what games are available at the casinos in Aruba is not very precise and emails didn't always yield useful information. Anyway, the Hyatt casino did not have UTH, so I hopped in the rental car in search of which casinos did. Here's where I found UTH:

Ritz Carlton - This is easily the nicest hotel/casino on Aruba. Trips are 8-6-5-3 too. They also have a Progressive bet that is only $1 and it pays on a Straight or Better using your hole cards and the 3 cards on the flop.


Marriott - OK casino. Low ceiling and quite smoky. Trips odds are weird - 7-6-4-3 Ick!

Riu - Did not visit. It's a very small casino at an all-inclusive.

No UTH at Holiday Inn, Hilton, Alhambra, Glitz or Crystal Casino.

So I chose the Ritz and plunked my butt down at a seat to play. Initially I was seated with a woman who spoke only Papiemento with the dealers. I felt kind of left out but ground my way through a couple of hours of play betting 25-25. Not winning much or losing much either. Another local sat down and won $500 off of the $1 progressive with Quads. His wife/girlfriend/partner (who knows these days?) sat down about 30 minutes later and BOOM, she yanked a Straight Flush off of the flop. That was worth $5200 just for the progressive piece. Nice. (Why wasn't I betting the $1 progressive anyway?)



I left after playing for about 4.5 hours and up around $300...... plus drinks.

I came back the next night and scored some Quads. That was nice but kind of boring, so I started betting the $1 progressive. What the hell, right? Who wants to die of boredom?


Quads


Straight on the Flop. That paid another $25 on the $1 Progressive, but it's not shown as the dealer has to sign a special form anytime there's a Progressive win. #Buzzkill

And then IT HAPPENS!! Just not for me. Two Armenian gents/brothers sat down and we were playing, drinking, talking and having a general good time when one of them yells, "I've got it!!". Well, he certainly did - another Straight Flush on flop that paid $4700 on that $1 bet. Hey, Good for him.



It's kind of a blur after that but I left for the evening down about $50.

OK. It's got to be my turn now. I took a night off and came back rested and ready. Well, the UTH Gods didn't think so. I dropped about $300 total after about 4 hours of play. No biggie. Plenty of more nights to try. The next night I came back and was playing head-up against the dealer for a while. A couple of other folks sat down and I finally caught a good hand - Quads on the flop - $25 + $25 + $5 + $1 + 4X ($100) paid a bit more than $1K. Finally! I finished up the night up about $800.



The next two nights were insane. I buy in for $1K each night and it gets sucked away from me in about an hour. I re-buy for another $1K and grind and grind. It takes me 4 more hours to grind my way back to even +/- $50 both nights. At 1:30AM on the second night, I call it a night. Very happy to play this much and walk away with more money to take home than I brought.

 

momnkid - The rest of the vacation was great. Aruba is between 80-90 degrees almost year round with a steady breeze / wind. It's hotter here in the states than in Aruba right now.

There are some excellent restaurants there. Our favorites were Carte Blanche, Fred's and the Chophouse at Manchebo. CB and Fred's have about 16 seats each and the seats are around a centralized kitchen. You drink, eat and gab with the chef and the sommelier/host through 5 or 6 courses. Every dish was excellent.

I was surprised to see the 2 straight flush hits on the progressive. One maybe. I put in a lot of hours and saw 2 SF - 2 Quads - and a few flushes and straights. I wouldn't play it at $5/hand. At $1/hand it was an easy decision to go for it.

 

Carte Blanche



Beef Entree with Fingerling Potatoes, Green Bean, Mushrooms, Tomato and Jus



Amazing Dessert at Carte Blanche (Apple poached in sweet syrup with ginger-cinnamon crunchies, strawberries and vanilla ice cream in a nest of spun sugar.



Fred's



Beef Tenderloin wrapped in Bacon with a Foie Gras Ravioli