Flushing It Out of Vegas - In Search of the Elusive Royal
Day One - Tue Nov 6th, 2006
I've lost count of how many trips to Vegas we've taken - it's either
17 or 18 for me, one less for Mrs. Flusher. One thing's for sure, when
we figured out how many hands of video poker we'd played in all those
trips, we have statistically NOT gotten our share of Royal Flushes.
And that simply had to be rectified, and soon.
As you recall I pleaded my case just before the trip and some of you
responded by chanting en masse 'Royals for the Flushers! Royals for
the Flushers!' Incense was burned, elongated tubers were sacrificed,
and karmas were started. We would either have Royal Flushes, or
somebody would be eating a lot of strange smelling carrot soup.
Does it sound like I'm not of right mind? Good. I felt if I didn't get
a Royal this trip I would explode into a million shards of non-Royal
Flushing Royal Flusher.
My Royal Flushing History is as follows:
1) Our third trip to Vegas, first time I played VP, 1 quarter in -
this is EASY!!!! I thought.
2) A dealt royal in spades at Treasure Island with $5 in the old 1-100
coin machines. And that was 10 years ago.
Mrs. Flusher had a nickel royal (drawing one, in clubs) at Mirage back
in the day, and a year and a half ago, a surprise royal holding two
(in diamonds).
In my view, I have not really had what I call an 'earned' royal.
That's one where superior play, intelligence, good looks, and charm
all combine to that dealt 3 or 4 to a royal, you hold the cards, hold
your breath and BAM watch the royal fill in. No, my royals have all
been blind, dumb luck. Not that I'm sneering at $4000 (less 30% stupid
tax on Canadians). But for all the training we've done starting with
VP Tutor back in the day... all our efforts haven't resulted in a
royal sprouting forth as the result of proper, skillful play.
We travelled on points which means only the worst of the worst flights
were open to us. A 5:20pm out of Kingston and an 8:25pm out of Toronto
to put us in Vegas at 10:30pm Vegas time - 1:30am for us Easterners.
And a lovely red-eye on the way home.
Flights were non-eventful and our bags were first off the plane. I
hired a Limo and we trucked off downtown in style and checked into the
Golden Nugget. Our non-smoking room was not available so we were put
in this stinkpot crib in the south tower.
Mrs. Flusher was too fatigued to gamble! A first! I stumbled
downstairs and lost $120 in about 6 minutes. Not an auspicous start.
Did I mention that I am a cheap bastard?
It's true, in some respects. We decided to make use of all the frugal
leverage, Jean-style, that we could muster and use coupons, offers,
comps etc. as much as possible to shave costs down, and improve our
bankroll.
In search of the Royal, we trained like fiends on JoB, and planned a
$500 bankroll daily each played on single line quarters. We also allot
some dollars for 'high stakes' - to take a flyer on whatever we want
be it a $25 slot or some other frivolous attempt at getting rich
quick. Makes for fun, and sometimes profit. But the main thrust was to
play many many many hands of VP, earn comps, and get royals.
Disappointed I hauled my weary ass to bed and we grabbed some sleep.
The Score
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Elusive Royal Flushes: zero
Stay tuned...