Flushing It Out of Vegas - In Search of the Elusive Royal
Day Eight - Mon Nov 13th, 2006
Our last full day in Vegas, although that didn't really count because
the redeye out of town was to leave at 11:25pm the next day. That
would be a long one.
The Plaza room had been survivable, although I passed one fellow on
the way to bed the night before who was simply standing in the
elevator foyer, with that 1000 oz. stare, rocking slowly back and
forth like a tree in the breeze. If he wanted an elevator, he had
forgotten that fact. I would imagine he keeled over backwards shortly
after I went to bed.
We settled in for some early morning play at JoB at the Plaza. I used
to rely on the casino to provide morning coffee, but at that time of
day, getting a cocktail waitress was often problematic. I now had a
system.
I would buy a canned Starbucks double shot, or iced coffee the night
before at ABC. Put it on ice, and drink it the next morning.
This day, I realized I had forgotten to go out and get ice. So the
drink was warm. Then it hit me how much energy I've wasted getting out
of bed at night, getting half dressed, running out for ice in stalking
feet, getting wet feet, getting locked out of the room, spilling the
ice etc. etc. etc.
Like I couldn't find a glass with ice in it in a casino???
I strolled over to the nearest bar, and requested a glass with ice in
it. The Plaza cocktail waitress turned around to let me know the
barkeep would attend to my request. Let's just say I was taken aback
and leave it at that. I don't know how to describe this woman in 4"
heels other than to say I think her sidewalls were delaminating after
too many miles of hard cornering.
Glass. Ice. Starbucks in a can. No appetite whatsoever.
Quad results: RF:(Q)QQQJ, J2(22)2, and (33)33 on Bonus Poker.
Mrs. RF: 10 (10 10) 10 and (22)22 on BP. 10(10)10(10) Tens again.
Five quads, four from pairs. I tells ya it's a theeery at work here. A
good session of about 1000 hands each and we're both up on the day.
I grabbed some breakfast at some joint in the Plaza. Sort of a Nazi
breakfast. You have to order on your way in, and pay up front. They
seem to know their clientele here.
We dropped over to the Golden Gate so I could cash in my chips. I like
to bring home the craps chips that I've won to show Mrs. Flusherama.
It makes me feel good to have them on me. It's cause its new to me. I
remember when we used to play slots and we'd bring buckets of nickles
up to the room overnight, and play them the next morning. Ah the
tenderness of nickle-gathering youth.
We really wanted to get well established at Main Street Station, so we
decided to concentrate a lot of play there in the last 2 days.
Gave the full pay Deuces a shot because we STILL hadn't gotten four
ducks (at once) between us. Then we settled in at the JoB slanttops.
Mrs. F hit(KK)KK and 525(55) for two scratch cards.
I was playing around and trying to make some money and gave the Bonus
Deluxe a shot. On my 35th try for a quad from a trip I nailed
(K)K3(KK) for $100. That was nice.
I guess I was getting antsy now that the trip was nearly done, and
ready to try some higher variance stuff. After 600 hands or so I took
a stretch break at the Berlin Wall, and spied a triple play upright
machine on the wall by the Valet entrance.
It had full pay BP on it so I slipped in a 20. It was fun. Mrs. F
helped me. I got down in credits below the amount you need to play 3
hands full pay a couple of times and managed to Lazarus my way back up
a bit. Finally I was down to exactly the amount you need for 3 hands -
$3.75.
I was dealt a nothing hand - you *always* hope for that big dealt hand
on the multi-plays. I held two to a royal and on the top line, a
little box said: ROYAL FLUSH 4000.
Mrs. Flusher said, "Oh, you got 4000 points." I said, "I got a royal.
I GOT A ROYAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It finally sunk in for both of us.
Royal Number Two For the trip and now I was securely in the black for
our entire venture. It was all coming true at last!!!!
Zig came over and paid me $1002.50. I also got a chit for (yet
another) t-shirt. And a scratch card! How could it be any better?
I ended up with about eight t-shirts from MSS. We got one for showing
up, I got one for the royal, and we got one everytime we did 1000
points in a day. It was awesome.
We snagged a buffet comp for lunch at the slot club and enjoyed MSS'
excellent buffet.
Time to settle in and say hello to Kelli at the bar. And say hello to
some quads. 6(6)6(6) for me and dealt (55575) for Mrs. F. Also
(K)7(K)KK.
One of the things we did want to do this trip was to take a look at
Red Rock casino and spa. I'd heard it was nice. We cabbed it over and
it was stunning. Absolutely gorgeous.
One of the things I like to do as a hobby is take artistic, abstract
photos of Vegas. Every now and then something catches my eye and I'll
spend a minute or two checking out different angles or looking for an
interesting reflection or composition.
At Red Rock I could barely walk three feet without finding something
fascinating to photograph.
We were in heaven, we thought, with all these gorgeous full pay flat
screen slant tops, incredible architecture and decorating, dropdead
gorgeous cocktail waitresses (well I noticed them anyway).
After getting slot cards, we sat down to play. We thought we want to
be here for a while and each slipped $100 bills into our machines.
As you know, we aren't sure about the new algorithm in the machines.
It feels off, and we seem to lose more. Well, you have never seen such
a losing streak as we both hit. Within 10 minutes we were both out of
credits. It was unreal. How is it one day you can play for an hour on
$20 and cash out your original stake, and then another... a
parachuteless plummet straight into the ground.
All of a sudden Red Rock SUCKED.
We looked around a bit more and explored the place, licking our
wounds. What had seemed spectacular now seemed... annoying.
Mrs. F decided to take a flyer on a bank of Triple Double Bonus
machines and sat down to play while I went off to break a $100 bill.
No way was I going to be feeding Benjamins in after the last
shit-kicking we took. I found the machine about 5 rows away, changed
my bill and started walking back. I heard something, something
familiar to me, from long long ago.
It was the happy music that plays when someone hits a jackpot.
As always, that little bit of hope sparked, but I couldn't see Mrs. F
from where I was. The sound did seem to be coming from over there, but
there was no lit candle that I could see on top of the machine.
And then, a familiar figure popped up above the tops of the machines,
facing me, arms raised in triumph.
Can you say, clumping?
(J) 10 (Q)(A) K of clubs. Royal Flush. $1306.42 progressive. We
celebrated and I ordered a stiff drink to toast my pride and royalling
joy. Just for fun I sat down next to her and nailed K(K)K(K) for a
quick profit. We were BACK. Bigtime. We had just cemented our most
successful trip ever.
We kicked around Red Rock a while longer and tried some fun,
non-serious games, like triple play Super Times Pay nickels. Well
wouldn't you know it, she FINALLY nailed FOUR DEUCES (2) 2 2 2. $50 in
nickels.
Time to eat - we tried the coffee shop, if you can call it that, with
its soaring colorful portaits of flowers, and sumptuous colors. Warm
lighting and beautifully executed mosaics. The cheeseburger was
recommended and it was on special for $2.99. I thought I'd try it.
Mrs. Flusher had the traditional celebratory club sandwich.
I don't know how the made the burger, or how they got the perfect bun
(soft, not chewing, denser but not too dense) but this was hands down
the best cheeseburger I ever ate. It was made of ground prime rib or
something. Highly recommended.
We had our confidence restored and tried the Bonus Poker again. This
time we had much more normal play. Mrs. Royal Clumping Flusher got
(7)7 10 (77) and I racked up 3(333)10, and (99)979, then three hands
later 66(66).
I'm telling you if she had not hit that royal, we would have walked
out of Red Rock with a bitter taste in our mouths, and never set foot
in the joint again, fully believing the machines were not right. Well,
we proved otherwise.
What a day! A quick visit to our new-found friend at the slot club to
share the news saw her offer us a room comp for the next night. Oh how
we wished we could have accepted, but we'd be on a plane. I toyed with
the idea of ditching the Plaza and moving but it just didn't feel
right.
What a day. Two Royal Flushes and 19 quads, and Four Deuces. And three
free t-shirts! It was late (for us) and we cabbed it back to the
Plazoo content with the knowledge that we'd fulfilled every goal we'd
set for this trip.
The Score
ยทยทยท
=========
Quads: seventy nine
Straights Flush: five
Aces on BP: two
Deuces: One!
T-shirts: twelve
Other shirts and jackets: three
Pounds of beef consumed in one go: one
Clumping Royals Flush: Three.
One more day to come...