Three times a year, Oneida Indian Nation @ Turning Stone holds a High Stakes Bingo game. For the past I can't say how many years, my friend Donna and I have attended the events in October and April (we never can seem to get our schedules to work for the July games). It is sometimes just the two of us, but more often than not other friends of ours also join us. This year we were most fortunate to be joined by the irreverently funny Annette who made this trip memorable in more ways than one.
Planning for the trip began in earnest about a month ago and as the departure date drew nearer, the anticipation grew higher. Humorous e-mails flew back and forth last week and by the time Saturday rolled around, we were all ready to have a great weekend.
Having called "shotgun" 6 weeks ago, I hopped into the front seat when we all met in Newburgh and Annette took control of the snack bags in the back while Donna drove. The first leg of our journey was spent mostly talking about how great it would be to win, how little money we had available to spend on gambling (Annette is recently laid-off and I am going to be laid-off in a few weeks), how ridiculously high the hotel room is costing, etc. Annette had never been to Turning Stone and was not sure what to expect, but was looking forward to seeing "Dorothy and her Ruby Red Slippers" (she is in love with the Wizard of Oz slot machines). After a short time, we decided to play Tri-Bond which was sophomorically easy for the brain trust trio to master but it did make the time go by quickly and before we knew it we had arrived.
Donna went to pick up our pre-paid bingo tickets, while I escorted Annette to the Diamond Card Registration booth (you use a debit-type card for all gaming at Turning Stone). It was just a short wait on the bingo line until we had our admission tickets and since we were going to be using TEDs (formally known as The Electronic Dabber, these mini computers do all the work for you) we didn't need any prep time. We dropped our bags off at our pre-assigned seats, met our table mate and then took off for the casino.
When we came back to the bingo hall in time for the Early Bird Warm Ups, we met the rest of our table mates who all seemed rather nice. Good thing, too, because whoever gets to sit with us is most definitely going to get free entertainment with their admission price so it's nice when they can appreciate it!
As we always do, we had agreed beforehand to play as partners to increase our chances of winning (27 cards vs. 9) and to share the wealth. Last time we won only $100 and that was split with 2 other players so our partnership take was $33....hardly sharing the "wealth" but a bingo is a bingo. But as usual we were optimistic! Strangely enough none of us were even waiting any of the games....someone in the hall would yell BINGO and we'd all still need 3 or 4 numbers. It wasn't very exciting and with the computer playing for us there wasn't much going on except for some snacks and a newspaper that we passed back and forth. That was until the Eiffel Tower pattern...... Annette needed only 5 numbers when the rest of us were still in double digits. Then she needed four....then three......and here came another one of the numbers in her pattern and suddenly the only thing standing between us and the $10,000 was O-69. Three more numbers were called and Donna began the mantra "nobody yell...nobody yell....nobody yell..." At first I was thinking "why is she saying that? IF O 69 comes out we're gonna be yelling like crazy!" But then I realized she was sending out a message to the crowd that nobody should get bingo on any of the numbers that were being called! Meanwhile, Annette had lost most of the color in her face and was suffering from palpitations. When the yellow ball popped up on the tv screen we held our breath and when the caller turned it around so we could see that it was in fact O-69 we were all like "oh my God!" It seemed forever until the caller announced the number at which time we were free to yell B I N G O and yell we did. In fact, we yelled so loud that we didn't hear that someone else also had bingo (bummer) so our prize was $5k rather than $10k but it was still the most any of us had ever won so it was mind blowing!
We only waited two other times the rest of the day, once for O 72 and once for I 29, but to no avail. After we paid for the hotel room and gas/tolls, our net was about $1500 each so a great weekend suddenly became a PHENOMENALLY great weekend with the pressure off and we could play all the games we wanted to without worrying about what we'd do with our time once we ran out of money. Of course, we were all super savvy and took plenty of the winnings home with us!
Having only 4 hours of sleep two nights in a row made us a little punchy and the car ride home was a 3 hour laugh fest although I can't even say what was so funny. The only thing I know is by the time we got back to Newburgh I had gone through a small pile of napkins that I had used to wipe the tears streaming out of my eyes, I had a belly ache and could barely catch my breath from all the laughter.
Winning was awesome, but having these amazing friends is priceless!!!!
Harrahs (now Caesars) Entertainment is where I spend most of my gambling dollars because they have so many properties and my play is combined at all of the properties to determine my player status.
There are four player levels (not counting, I'm sure, the high rollers "whales" and such): Gold Players are pretty much everyone who sets foot in one of their casinos -- as soon as you sign up you are a Gold Player and maintain that level until you have a higher yearly coin in. Spend $40,000 (video poker) in a year and you become Platinum; spend $110,000 in a year and you are accorded Diamond status. Seven Stars is the highest but they don't advertise how much you have to spend to get that level.
The "spending" levels listed are for video poker players which is what I play primarily; slot machine players need to only have half that amount spent in a year.
Keep in mind that the machines are tracking COIN IN which is naturally much higher than what a person is physically taking out of their wallet. For example, if I put a $20 bill in a 25 cent video poker machine, I have paid for 16 hands (at $1.25 per hand). However, during those 16 hands I will have won or broken even on about 95% of them so for $20 I might be able to play 30, 40 or even more hands (especially if I hit a 4 of a kind or some other high paying win). Assuming I keep playing until I lose the original $20 I could realistically run through $100-$200 which all counts toward your player score but is still just the $20 I initially put into the machine.
Okay, so back to my status. For a long time I was platinum which was good enough for me because it was better than my pals had (LOL!) and it pretty much guaranteed me a comp room any time I wanted to visit AC.
But then somehow I got an offer to be flown out for a 4 day weekend at Harrahs Reno. We thought it would be pretty cool to do that since we hadn't been there together since 1984ish so I RSVPd Yes. In the meantime, between the RSVP and the actual arrival in Reno, I hit Diamond status! So my first time as a Diamond player would be in Reno and I didn't really know what to expect from that but I thought it would be pretty cool and I was right!
At check in the guy told me the hours of the Diamond Lounge and I wasn't overly impressed because once before a long time ago I got a Free Pass to go to the Diamond Lounge (or whatever they called it) at the Tropicana and when I went in it was just a private gambling salon with machines I couldn't afford to play anyway. But I figured I would show Mike the lounge when we got a chance.
Of course our first order of business, (after taking care of other business ;) was to find a cocktail waitress and a loose machine. After playing for a little while a floor worker came over, "Linda? Here is a voucher for the two of you to have dinner at the buffet" Okay, cool, free food for the diamond player, I'm not complaining! So I found Mike and when we went to the buffet I discovered that even better than the free food was the Diamond Player line pass! That meant that no matter how many people were on line for the buffet, as soon as I came to the Diamond Line, they would immediately come over to me, grab a set up from a different area (linen napkins for the diamonds!) and escort us to a private dining area inside the buffet itself. Diamonds also have their choice of cocktails inside their private area! Very, very cool and the food was very, very good!
That first night, coming out of the buffet, I noticed a partially hidden door on the side wall with a small placard stating "Diamond Club". I said to Mike, let me show you what I mean about the high limit slot room. Boo-ya I was totally off the mark. The Diamond Lounge here is a small, intimate space with soft couches, low lighting, club and pub tables, a roaring fireplace, cozy bar, tuxedo'd host and a small snack buffet. Basically a place to get away from it all. Very very nice! We ended up spending part of every day/night here just chilling with drinks, watching tv or reading the newspapers, etc.
For breakfast/lunch we decided to try the generic cafe and here, too, there was a separate entrance for Diamonds with a dedicated host to guarantee no wait, and a separate room for dining.
Meanwhile, every day a casino floor clerk would come to find me, "Linda? Here is a voucher for the two of you to visit the buffet for dinner" It was really nice to be treated so royally! So on the last night, when the casino floor clerk came over "Linda....." I basically waved him off nicely, hardly taking my eyes off my machine, "oh, thanks anyway but we're leaving in the morning so we won't be here to eat tomorrow" The gentleman replied, "I'm the Casino Host" That is when I realized he wasn't a generic casino worker. Basically what had happened was that since I was Platinum when I booked, and then turned Diamond before I got there, nobody had alerted him that I was there so he was falling all over himself apologizing for not having done anything for me!! I'm telling him not to worry about it, everything was perfect, but he's trying to figure out how he can make it up to me now that it's midnight and we're leaving in like 6 hours :P So he's offering to have some midnight snack delivered to my room?!?! No, thanks anyway but I won't be in my room LOL. So then he says, well at the very least I'm going to have a limo pick you up and bring you to the airport in the morning. Very very cool!!!
Mike's not into the frills but I totally loved being a Diamond in Reno!
Now, I get back home and my first visit to AC as a Diamond occurs in December when I went down with Jean. The whole car ride down I'm telling her about all the Diamond perks and how great it is being a diamond and how much fun we're going to have getting the "treatment"...... wow, was I sadly mistaken!
Apparently there isn't much $$$ in Reno where being a Diamond means you are big fish in a small bowl....in AC everyone and their mother is a diamond!! There are no line passes because the lines for Diamond Players are longer than any other. In fact, when I went to check in at the hotel, there was NOBODY on the "regular patron" line, but 8 people in front of me on the Diamond Line!! Where's the benefit there??
So I said to Jean, well we'll at least get to visit the Diamond Lounge - wait til you see how cool this place is. NOT! The Diamond Lounge here is the size of a school cafeteria and yes there is more food choices than just the snacky-snacks in Reno, it is a huge cavernous space with regular dining tables like a restaurant, loud, lots of wait staff, hustle/bustle, bright, takes a while to get a drink, that sort of thing. Hmmmmm....well at least the food was free and the tables by the front windows had a very nice view overlooking the boardwalk and ocean. But not quite the elite status I experienced in Reno.
Oh, well, apparently in Atlantic City you're nobody until you carry Seven Stars status....I'll be glad to visit Reno again in a couple of weeks!
As most of our friends already know, Mike is less than "lucky" when it comes to the casino. In fact, I usually bring him along and then set him up in the spa for the day to chill out listening to his I-pod, hanging around in his robe, soaking in the calderium or frigidarium, while munching on some fruit and sipping some flavored tea. He's my manly man!
Anyway, Mike does like to play video poker, BUT he only likes winning. Now, of course, everyone WANTS to win...but some people, like yours truly, get gratification just from playing and the win is a bonus. Mike, on the other hand, gets no joy from playing but is looking for the big kahuna. In addition, he has decided that single hand video poker just doesn't give him enough of a "rush" so he has been playing triple hand video poker. This means that instead of losing $1.25 a hand, he is losing $3.75! Put another way, he loses his money three times as quickly! I try to convince him to play nickels or dimes when playing 3 hands but he counters that the win wouldn't mean as much. (So true...but the loss would take longer!)
Okay, so bottom line is that he doesn't get the chance to gamble very often but I got another one of those "Mystery Envelope" invitations recently and since he is always my first choice for a traveling companion I asked him if he'd like to come along. Cathy booked me a room at Caesars and upon arrival I set him up with a spa day (using my comps) figuring that would keep him occupied and out of the casino.
And it did....until he got tired of lounging around..... and went in search of a video poker machine he'd "like".
Now, even though Mike doesn't gamble very often, he has gambled quite a bit in the almost 30 years we've been together and he has only once hit the elusive big daddy of all poker hands: the Royal Flush. A fact of which he reminds me constantly; to which I reply, "well at least your not Donna". Donna who is one of my oldest and dearest friends has been playing video poker as long as I have and the poor thing has never even hit one!
And here is my darling husband, drinking wine, betting $4.50 a hand....and you just know he is going to be steaming mad when he loses his money!
I remind him that we are leaving early in the morning, that he is already tired, that he should go to bed, yada yada yada...and I head back downstairs to my progressive video poker machines.
Time goes by, as it always does in the casino, and I feel someone touching the back of my head -- it's Mike! Oh, no, I say "is it morning already? is it time to leave?" He's laughing, "no, I haven't been to bed yet!" WHAT??? My husband never stays up later than 11 and that's only in a very extreme circumstance. If he's awake at 9pm he's hours past his bedtime!!! Well, it turns out he has finally broken his "can't get a royal streak" because he has hit not one but TWO royals on the same machine within an hour!!!
Insane that he stayed up all night -- but way to go Mike!
By the way, I hit one also, jackpot of $1362 on the same machine that I hit in December. This time it was a sequential Royal flush in spades (too bad it wasn't on the $25,000 sequential machine) which surprised me because although I was pretty sure I was going to hit one, I thought it would be in clubs for some reason so when I got dealt the center J-Q-K I didn't expect the 10 and Ace to pop up.
Caesars has become my favorite boardwalk location casino. For a long time it was Showboat, but my last couple of times at Showboat weren't so hot and the room was just "meh" so I've gotten used to Caesars and find that everything I need is right there. They don't do such a great job of cleaning around the slot/video machine areas, and it can sometimes be a while before you get a drink....but they have a decent assortment of the machines I like so I have taken to requesting that property when I contact my lovely player representative (Cathy Cudoni) for a room.
Okay, so anyway, in December I invited Jean to accompany me on an overnight to Caesars when they were having a mystery envelope drawing. This particular promotion is my favorite because the minimum I am guaranteed to win is $100 with a chance of my prize being as high as $10,000!!!!! For this event, my prize was the minimum $100 which was kind of a bummer because all around me people were winning $300, $500, $200....but it was a free (relatively speaking) hundred bucks so I wasn't about to complain. Although I was kind of surprised because I really did have this feeling that I was going to win.
As an aside, I have to point out that a number of thoughts were going through my head when I got the Mystery Envelope invitation. Thoughts like: "how can I go to AC the week before Christmas? I am already spending so much $$$ on Christmas am I crazy to spend money gambling? We're leaving on our big cruise in a few weeks and that's going to be another expense...." thoughts like that. So I had invited Jean, and I had gotten the room, but I kept looking for signs that said I shouldn't go. Instead I kept getting signs every day that said I SHOULD go. Stupid things like I would say to myself, "oh you can't be away you have a group coming in this weekend" and then BAM! the next day I got a phone call from the group asking to reschedule. Then I said to myself, "okay take your coin jar to the bank and if you don't have at least $100 in coins you shouldn't go" so off I go to the bank and BAM! I had $138 in coins! The day I was planning to leave I stopped at the post office, "if I have any bills in my po box I'll call to cancel my room" and BAM! no bills but a check for $2.75 from a class action settlement. So, like I said, stupid things but they all seemed to be pointing me in an AC direction and I could only assume this meant I was destined to win $10,000.
Okay, so we now know I didn't win $10,000 but I had $100 of their money plus $138 of my laundry money (that would be the coins from my coin jar that I have collected from the washer/dryer and not, certainly, laundry money that I need to go to a laundromat and wash clothes -- just in case anyone who is reading this doesn't know me and thinks I would take the family's laundry money to a casino!)
Back to my story....
On this trip, I came across a bank of progressive video poker machines that were as close to full pay as you're ever going to find in Atlantic City and the royal flush prize was over $1400. So I plopped right down and started to play, and play, and play, and play. Hours and hours of video poker, hopping from machine to machine in the bank. Sporadically I took a break and went to the Super Times Pay machines (terrible odds but I can't help myself, I love them!) and the Ultimate X machines (even worse odds and have NEVER won but again they are fun to play). Both of those novelty games suck my money up faster than a....well I don't know what to compare them to; but they sure do suck my money up! This is why I only play them if I am AHEAD -- kind of like a little treat to myself.
So, off and on for that night, the next day and the next night I played to win the progressive Royal Flush -- pretty sure that I was going to hit it, it was just a matter of when and on which machine. Finally, at 5:08am (after staying up all night LOL!) on 12/18, I hit the jackpot for $1881.
I think it was clubs but it might have been diamonds!
It is probably most fitting that I begin my "random thoughts" blog with a story about gambling. This really happened to me recently.....really.....I'm so not making this up! Here's my story:
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!!!!
