Royally Flushed

Everyone who enjoys casino gambling can remember — always in great detail — the first time it happened.  Where you were, what you were playing, who you were with.  I’m talking about your first time.  The very first time you hit big in the casino.

For video poker players, it was no doubt their very first Royal Flush.  For slot players, maybe it was three Triple Diamond symbols or three Blazing 7′s appearing like magic across the screen.  I will always remember my friend, Mark, calling me on his cell phone from the California casino in downtown Las Vegas to tell me he had just hit for $10,000 on the Triple Double Diamond dollar slots.  Cha-ching!  For blackjack and poker players, craps and roulette fans, it was that first “streak” that just went on and on until your bankroll looked like nothing you’d ever seen. 

Here’s a “first story” for P.B. and me.  While it wasn’t his first $1,000 Royal, it was the first one he got while he and I were playing together.  We were sitting side-by-side at the bar at The Rio in Las Vegas sipping wine and playing Double Double Bonus video poker, quarters, when P.B. nudged me and said “Look.”  That’s it, just one word – “look.”  When I glanced over, all I saw was the “Call Attendant” notice on the screen so I thought his machine was broken.  I was saying something dumb  like “Oh, I’m sure someone will come and FIX it” and he said … “No, LOOK!”  That’s when I saw the Royal Flush and the big fat $1,000 JACKPOT sign!  It was a very fun hit with everyone at the bar coming to look and even the bartender calling people over to see it.  (By the way, he hit it in diamonds and he held the Ten, King and Jack and drew the Ace and Queen.  See what I mean about remembering in great detail!)

Tomorrow — My first big hit in slots PLUS the announcement of a fun new contest for our readers.

Could something like this bring you casino luck?

When it comes to good luck charms, I’ve seen a lot of strange things in casinos in Las Vegas, here in Arizona and, really, all across the country.  I remember one “regular” at a casino here in town who, back in the days when actual coins still poured out of the machines, would accumulate buckets of quarters and carry them from machine to machine.  If he was having a good day, you’d see him perched on his seat in front of a slot machine with three, four or even five completely full buckets of change under his chair.  Watching him move from machine to machine with a stack of change cups sort of piled atop each other “Leaning-Tower-of- Pisa-style” was a pretty interesting sight.  When asked why he carried around all those quarters rather than cashing in for some lightweight bills, he said his method of only going to the cashier at the end of his gambling day brought him luck.  (I’m sure he’s not having near as much fun with the paper tickets spit out by the machines today.) (more…)