Flushing It Out of Vegas - In Search of the Elusive Royal
Day Two - Tue Nov 7th, 2006
The day dawned early and dark, for we'd vowed to stick to eastern
time, and also maximize our play in the early hours when we'd have the
pick of machines, quiet, and a somewhat smoke-free atmosphere.
I opened an eye, gazed lovingly at the clock which said 6:00 AM, gazed
lovingly at Mrs. Flusher and mouthed some words at her. She didn't
even need to take her earplugs out to know I'd uttered longing, the
word she longs to hear.
"Gamble?..."
ยทยทยท
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We'd booked a $49 a night offer at the Golden McNugget which came with
$25 slot play. We haven't had enough play at downtown joints to score
comped rooms and planned to get established at a number of fine venues
along Fremont and nearby environs.
The VP inventory has been destroyed at GN recently but we figured the
Bonus Slut machines are pretty close to JoB if not a bit over, and
there's always 8/5 BP which we love, but planned to play a lot less in
favor of JoB.
We hit the Bonus Slut machines and played for a couple of hours.
Then the call of the Golden Gate made its siren song known. In spite
of all the theory, all the math, all the careful planning, we are
suckers for kitsch. Yes, it was time to seek out the twin White
Lighting (KKEEEERRRRRRAACKKKK!) machines at the back of the Gate. When
you say White Lightning (KKEEEERRRRRRAACKKKK!), you have to make a
thundercrack sound, which we did. Somehow over time, this degenerated
into a whip crack sort of sound. I have no idea why. The goal was to
get a quad on White Lightning (KKEEEERRRRRRAACKKKK!) so it would go
into its unpredictable bonus amount selection mode where it chooses
how much it will pay you for the quad. These machines are dated 1994
and have these super old graphics. I just love the sense of history
around old machines. They are basically the same as Treasure Chest,
but who wants to play a machine with an unknown EV that actually
works??? No, the thrill is in the busted up bottons and out of focus
12" screens on these babies.
So we played, throwing EV to the wind. (I imagined Bob Dancer rolling
in his gravy.) But dammit, we like to have fun as well as win money.
I held AQ, going for the royal. Dealt AAAAQ. The first quad on White
Lightning!!! (KKEEEERRRRRRAACKKKK!) Naturally I received the lowest
possible payout of 140 quarters.
That jag statisfied, and for profit, we moved on.
Breakfast at the beloved Bay City Diner. Steak and Eggs and hash
browns. After we went back to the room for a quick rest and to arrange
a room change to a non-smoking room.
We went back to the Golden Gate to play... our beloved 7/5 Bonus Poker
Progressive.
By now even I was starting to wonder what had happened with the
15,0000 practice hands of 9/6 JoB I had put in before the trip. Had we
been hit with a case of Vegastupidity???
We just have a fondness for these old machines, which play like, well,
the old machines.
The new machines, with the new algorithm, have a different feel to
them. The old machines have a familiar feel. The new ones just don't
seem to play the same. We have no idea what the difference is. Maybe
it is because we see the same hands more than once on the old ones. I
would be interested to hear if some of you have the same observation.
Somewhere in here we changed rooms to a North Tower room. So much more
convenient!!! Unfortunately the safe was locked when we checked in and
there were a number of snafus getting Engineering and Security to the
room at the same time as us to open it. What would be inside??? Banded
stacks of 100s? Chicken fingers? Don't laugh, they once found chicken
fingers in one. The engineering guy used this James Bond-like device
to probe into the safe and divine the combination. Inside....
was....
...lint.
Okay, we smartened up and moved to Main Street Station and played JoB
for a couple of hours. A good strong session. We each got t-shirts for
having 1000 points in a day. I took a flyer on Loose Deuces and was
dealt AAAA2. You just have to laugh. Sometimes you get the right hand
on the wrong machine.
Lunch was comped at MSS. Our plan was starting to work! Already we'd
bagged food and a new wardrobe!
Some more JoB at the bar where we met the acquaintence of the lovely
Kelli who was a delight to chat with and took good care of our
drinking needs.
Back to the Gate for dinner and some $3 craps for me. Then back to the
Nugget to finish the day on Bonus Slut.
Okay, it's actually Bonus Flush. On the screen it says 'Bonus Suit'.
Since I have the mental workings of a 12 year old, I naturally pervert
it into Bonus Slut. Keep reading, there's much more perversion to come!
I had noticed that I was coming 'close' to a royal many times - dealt
4TAR four times, and Mrs. Flusher 3 times.
Big deal. It didn't cut it.
More to come...