I arrived at Sam's Town on Thursday morning (Feb. 4), threw my overnight bag in the room, grabbed $200 and headed down to the casino. The first couple of hours things weren't going too well financially ~ I couldn't really get into the groove, and found myself going back up to the room a few times to replenish my gambling stake. I was really starting to get a little nervous because I hadn't brought that much money with me but I was pretty sure that I would be okay since Sam's Town generally has some pretty loose machines. (Background info: my fave game is Double Double Bonus video poker which has some nice payouts on 4 of a kinds, but can kind of suck your money into a vortex if you don't hit some of those 4 of a kinds early on)
Fortunately, by late afternoon, I hit a Royal Flush for $1000 so my original stake was back intact and I had some extra money to play with. The odds of hitting a Royal Flush in Double Double Bonus with perfect play are approximately 1 in 40,000 hands, so I felt pretty damned happy to have hit one. I continued to play for the rest of the day, and though I didn't hit anything else really big, I did have a lot of small wins so went to bed that night still way ahead of the game.
Friday morning I was back at the Video Poker machines and Sam's Town has a TON of them so there were plenty from which to choose. Things were going along pretty much as they had Thursday night ~ lots of little wins keeping me in the money. Though I didn't hit a Royal, I did have lots and lots of four of a kind hands paying $200 - $400 so I was smart and kept only $200 on me for gambling money. Any time I got $100 or more over that, I stopped playing and took the $100 bill(s) back up to the room to add them to my pile. My strategy is to only keep my $200 gambling stake on me at any given time. This way, if things start to sour, I am forced to leave the gambling area and go back to the room. This gives me a needed break from the machines, plus I have time to think about whether I want to continue gambling or wait a little while. Anyway, so I spent most of Friday (day through early evening) winning a little bit at a time and accumulating 100 dollar bills in my stack. That night I met my son for dinner at TGIFs (my treat!) and then went back up to the room thinking I would catch up on some sleep. Sam's Town may have some loose machines but the beds are not the most comfortable, the pillows are flat slabs of foam and they have a water fall/music show every two hours that can be heard reverberating throughout the room. In any event, after the 10pm show I was wide awake and thirsty, so I decided to run down to Mickey D's for an iced tea (my other addiction besides gambling!).
Leaving McD's I took a wrong turn (not surprisingly to those who know me, but I have absolutely no sense of direction) and found myself not at the elevator bank, but in front of Dunkin' Donuts. As you can see by the plethora of fast food outlets, Sam's Town is definitely not one of the more upscale properties to be found in Vegas! It does, however, sport an infintely interesting assortment of both patrons and workers but I suppose that that topic should be covered in an entirely different post! Anyway, back to my story. As I turned to figure out where I had gone wrong direction-wise, I noticed a small bank of progressive Video Poker machines whose jackpot meter was registering $1623!!! Good Lord, I wondered, what could be wrong with these machines that the jackpot had gotten so high without being hit?? I walked over and saw that they were 9/5 double double bonus which is REALLY unusual because frequently progressive double doubles will pay at 8/5 or even 7/5. Now my curiosity got the better of me.....were they that tight?? There were 5 machines in the row and usually I play the center one when there is a row of 5 because 3 is my lucky number and the center machine is #3 from the right OR the left. Does that make any sense?? NO!! But gamblers are overtly superstitious by nature. The problem, however, was that sitting at machine #4 was a player who I didn't really want to sit next to (slovenly, smelly, you get the picture) so I sat down at machine #2. I pulled a $70 ticket out of my bag that I hadn't cashed in earlier and told myself I would only play until I either lost the $70 or someone hit the jackpot ~ whichever came first. Things weren't going too well on machine #2 and within a short time I was down $20. Luckily, machine #4 player vacated his spot so I was able to move to my favorite position at machine #3. The machine was pretty favorable and soon the play meter was around the $100. The balance kept going up and down, between $75 and $130, but I had told myself I would play until I lost the original stake. Plus, I knew that if I cashed out and went back to the room, I wouldn't get any sleep. Instead, I would lie in bed thinking about how I should have kept playing if I saw the jackpot had been hit when I came down the next morning. Meanwhile the jackpot amount kept climbing higher, players kept coming and going, and I kept plugging away on my machine never winning much, but never losing much either. Finally, a little after midnight, I was dealt the 10-J-Q-K of clubs and I said a little prayer to the gambling gods before hitting the draw button. The Ace of Clubs came up and I had won a jackpot of $1638!!!!!
Sleep came easily that night because it was so late by the time I got to bed, and I was so tired, but I was up early on Saturday and ready to face another day of gambling. Now that I was so far ahead financially, I was able to play with abandon. All the games I usually avoid because the odds aren't as favorable I was able to play just for the fun of it. Spin poker, Super times Pay, etc. are games I don't recommend but since I had a few extra hundred I said to myself "what the hell". Unfortunately I didn't hit anything on any of those machines so back I went to my old standards and before noon on Saturday the gambling Gods favored me with yet another Royal!!! Unbelievable, right?? Two in one day and my 3rd since my arrival on Thursday! Back up to the room to add more hundreds to my stack and then it was back down to gamble some more. You would think I would have quit by now but you have to understand that for me the fun is in the playing. Winning is good (great actually!) but only insofar as it gives me more money to play with. Unlike hubby, who only has fun if he wins, for me the fun is in the playing itself. My goal every time I go on a casino trip is to come home with the money I started with. If I have some extra, that's nice. But as long as I can have fun and not spend any of "my" money I'm a happy camper. I don't gamble to make money or because I need money for something. You get into that rut and you're sure to lose it all!
Anyway, so back to Saturday. I'm wandering around the casino, trying to decide what to play. And I know I want to play as many machines as possible because it is my last day ~ and then I find myself back in the Dunkin Donuts machine section. Remember, I have no sense of direction so it is highly unlikely that I will ever find a machine or area that I am specifically looking for. I see that the jackpot is at $1608 and there is a friendly looking woman playing at machine #3 (my machine) and a friendly looking gentleman playing at machine #1. I sit down between them and strike up a conversation while I am playing machine #2. I mention that machine #3 is a good machine and that I was playing it earlier that morning, yada yada yada and that I had hit the Royal. She gives me a venomous look......is that some kind of gambling no no??.......plays a few more spins and then cashes out without even saying goodbye! Gentleman and I look at each other, I shrug and say to him, "well, I'm going to play that machine again. Wouldn't it be funny to hit another?" You probably know what's coming, next but I'm going to spell it out anyway: Y-E-S... YES!!! After only 20 minutes or so, I hold the 10-Q-A of clubs and am dealt the J-K of clubs on the draw. Same machine, same suit, this time the jackpot was for $1610!!!!
FOUR ROYAL FLUSHES, TWO OF THEM JACKPOTS, IN A 3 DAY TRIP!
Back up to the room to add more bills to my stack of hundreds which by now is pretty damned thick! Feeling a little cocky, I decide to do something that I never do which is enter the high limit area and play $1 video poker for $5 a hand. I know, you thought I was going to say $5 or $25 VP or something, right? Hell no! I am a small time gambler! So I stick a hundred dollar bill in the $1 VP machine (double double of course, my favorite) and set a limit of 20 hands. Whatever happens, I am only playing 20 hands. I'm a little nervous betting a whole $5 on one hand and I am shaky, and feeling lightheaded at the thought of FIVE DOLLARS on ONE HAND! (I probably wouldn't be a good poker player) but fortunately I hit a low card four of a kind for $400 on hand number 3 so I quickly cashed out and didn't play the other 17 hands. The $400 is immediately brought up to the room and added to my ever growing stack.
Back downstairs in the casino I go back to my regular quarter video poker alternating between that and triple play and then I decide to play 50 cent video poker. This is only a $2.50 per hand investment and I rationalize that since I alternate between $1.25 a hand and $3.75 a hand (when I'm playing triple play video poker) it's not much different than I am already spending.
I stick a hundred dollar bill in a machine without even paying much attention and then realize that it is a progressive at a 7/5 pay schedule. Hideous! But I hit back to back full houses so I decide to give it a shot and play down to my original $100 investment since the Royal is around $2600. What I didn't realize, however, is that ALL of the high paying hands are progressive and before I know it, I hit four aces and a deuce for $1089!!!! Holy Crap!!! This is almost like hitting a fifth royal!!!
When I bring THOSE hundreds up to the room, I notice that it is close to midnight and since I am leaving in the morning I should start thinking about calling it a night. BUT, I can always sleep on the plane! So I add the $89 to my $200 stake and head back down into the casino.
I spent the next couple of hours playing some stupid, mindless slot machines ~ games where no thought is required; just hit REBET and hope for the best. I got a few bonus rounds but by the time I went to bed, most of my $289 stake was gone.
Had my luck run out?? It was a sobering thought before bed and one which I didn't want to spend too much time dwelling on. Not that I'm greedy, mind you, but as you already know from reading this far, I love to gamble and I like to win enough to keep playing so I'd hate to think that I used up all of my luck in one three day visit!The next morning I had a half hour to kill before the taxi was coming to take me to the airport. I found myself at a video poker machine, suitcase at my feet, right by the front door, debating whether to test my luck. If I didn't win, would I be totally bummed? Would I start to psyche myself into thinking my luck was gone? I've always considered myself to be lucky (not just gambling, but in all ways) and I do believe that you make your own luck so if I started to have doubts about my luck would it carry over into my "real" life?? I stuck a $20 in a machine.........it was gone in about 20 spins. Uh oh, things were not looking good; I should have just gone straight outside to wait for the cab! Moved to the next machine over, stuck in a $20, and hit four threes with a four for $200!! Cashed out, added those two hundreds to my stack and headed to the airport.
Lucky Linda has still got it!!!!
