Flushing It Out of Vegas - In Search of the Elusive Royal
Day Four - Thu Nov 9th, 2006
Thursdays child is fair of face.
Supposedly.
I awoke on my 47th birthday in a $15 hotel room in a parking garage
overlooking the El Cortez. Thank God I planned it that way. There's
something about a birthday that puts a spring in my step, makes me
feel just a little bit special. We started out early with a couple of
hours of JoB in which we lost a combined $180.
Then we swung over to Bonus Poker. I asked aloud, "Mrs. Flusher, where
is the MAGIC?" This was the kind of day that called for one of those
magical sessions...
I held two 8s and got a quad, then nailed quad 4s for $50, again
holding two cards. After a brief washroom break I came back, held two
4s again and nailed quad 4s again. But unnoticed by me the game had
changed to Double Bonus - so my quad 4s became a $100 windfall. Things
were starting to go my way!
We played a little more (back to BP) and I held three 2s and pulled
the fourth for another $50 quick fix. Three hands later, I nailed an
inside straight flush draw in spades. I kept up the action with Quad
9s, holding three. I'd gone quad crazy on my birthday!
It was time for breakfast and we ambled off to check out the Fitz.
After an unfortunately forgettable breakfast, we decided to try out a
nice pair of slant-top bonus poker machines upstairs. What a treat it
was playing these babies after the bartop and upright machines at the
ElCo.
The details are a bit fuzzy on what happened next. At exactly 9:39 I
was dealt yet again four to a Royal in clubs. Jack, Ten, King and
Queen. I held them and we did the usual pre-flight rituals of waggling
fingers, talking to the machine, talking to each other, checking the
held cards over and over.
Ace of Clubs.
The Elusive Royal Flush.
THE ELUSIVE ROYAL FREAKING FLUSH. Oh yes! OH YES! I felt a huge burden
lifting from me and my soul felt 20 years younger. The holy grail at
long last! The Earned Royal Flush in all its single card draw
perfection.
Not only that but Mrs. Flusher was still up on the trip and now I was
as well. Everything was falling into place as we'd schemed and dreamed
and I finally broke the curse of those missing Royals.
I got paid off and we played an hour on our initial $20s put into the
machines. Mrs. F picked up quad 4s and made $60 while I had a cool
grand in my pocket, and cashed out my original $20 stake. How sweet is
that???
Next stop the Four Queens for some 9/6 JoB. Another 2 Quads for the
bride of the birthday boy. It was one of those mornings where you just
win... and win... and win. Don't you just love them???!!!
Dinner was at Roberta's where we used a coupon to save $25. We had
steak and crab legs and it was excellent. The service was down-home
friendly wonderful too.
I had tickets for David Copperfield's opening show of his fall run at
MGM and we cabbed it down to Luxor to visit some of our old strip
haunts for old times sake.
My birthday luck seemed to have been all used up as I lost $90 in 5
seconds or so at dollar VP. Mrs. Flusher risked $50, then $100 more
and was dealt four Aces - but on JoB. Still, she made $50. We'll take
it.
The David Copperfield show was disappointing. Where 9 years ago at
Caesars we were awestruck with wonderment, this time we were
dumbfounded by the shabby disinterested performance. I'm not supposed
to know that those are fake stockinged feet. Or that the duck was
behind the bucket not inside it. The tarp was not supposed to snag on
the transporter chamber. I wasn't supposed to notice that the patch on
his arm where the letters were shifted slightly to signal that it was
a composite picture. I shouldn't have known that the car that appeared
was just a shell made of plastic. But car panels don't wiggle now do
they. The show started late, and then we were shown 10 minutes of
video saying how great he is. Later in the show there was another 6 or
7 minutes of video. Copperfield did not put himself physically into
any of the illusions to any extent - he looked sick and tired, and
bored. Lackluster and not worth the money. I was sadly disappointed.
My theory is that this being the first show of the run, the last few
days were long long days of rehearsals and he was tired out and sick.
But at $100 a ticket that's not exactly my problem is it. Sigh...
really it was a shame because he can do so much better.
Back to the El Cortez - the cab driver remarked that in 10 years in
Vegas he had never heard of anyone actually staying there. We assured
him that he would be safe with us.
Some three dollar craps, a few shots of Jack, and the birthday boy had
had a wonderful day to remember.
All was well in Vegas and I tumbled into bed like dice hitting 12.
The Score
···
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Quads: twenty five
Straight Flushes: three
Deuces: zero
T-shirts: four
Elusive Beautiful Birthday Royal Flushes: ONE