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Two Nevada Casino Hustler's in the Outback

#1

"Hey! Al! C'mon over here and take a look at these two old IGT clunkers." Al was across the room punching up games and looking for plays. But he walked on over.

"Damn! What is that? Vintage 1980's?"
"Yep" I responded Old 1980's IGT keno clunkers."
"So what's the big deal?"
"Take a look at the 5-spot progressive."

Al squinted at the number. The progressive was at $257.
"Is that a play?" he asked.
"Yes. It's worth a little money."

We were in Shelby, Montana. We had checked into a hotel then scouted the town out for plays. We hadn't found much. Just a few hundred dollars in expectation. And we ran rough on that. We were up a grand total of $78 for the day. But the hotel room had cost us $81. And we were staring at two old IGT clunker keno machines with linked progressives in an old rundown bar/casino.

"What's the cost to spin it off?" Al asked
"Well, it's a fifty cent bet and with that payscale about $160. But hold on. I'll pinpoint it."

I pulled out my pocket calculator. It wasn't my first rodeo with 5-spots. I knew the numbers by heart.

"The cost is $169 per cycle, Al"
"Reckon how fast the meter is?" Al said.
"Usually a half percent."
"Okay, so let's get to work."
"I don't know. It's damn near one in the morning. There gonna close pretty soon. We should probably hit it in the morning before we leave town."
"Yeah, you're right. We'll tag it in the morning."

On the way out the door Al asked the bartender what time they opened in the morning.
"Eleven O'clock sharp." the bartender responded.
"Damn" Al said as we got in the car. "They don't open until eleven. That's gonna make us late for gettin' into Cut Bank. How much is that play worth."
"It's a $90 earn."
"Chickenfeed. You wanna just blow it off and head to Cut Bank early?"
"Well, here's the problem, Al. That number, $257, is way out of whack for a game where the meter resets at probably around $125, and the meter runs only half percent. Now, Al, how have we made a lot of money in the past in this state?"

Al thought for a few seconds....
"Mistakes! he almost screamed. "Casino mistakes!"
"That's right, Al. Where does that damn meter reset? We might have us a straight through play."
"Yeah! You're right! We gotta stay and spin it off" he said as he pulled into the hotel parking lot.

Next post....

#2

An hour into the play and the meter was up to $297. Two hours into the play, about a cycle, and she hadn't come off. And the meter was up to $340. Three hours into the play the meter was up to $377. And we weren't catching our average for 3 out of 5, and 4 out of 5. We were getting dropped bigtime. I looked down at the dwindling fives on the table.

"Hey, Al"
"Yeah, what?"
"We're about out of fives. If she can't fish them out of the machine you're gonna have to go to the bank and buy some fives."
"I got $2000 in fives in the trunk of the car."

I thought for a few seconds

"Hey, Al."
"Yeah, what?"
"What the hell are you doing with $2000 in fives in the trunk of your car?
"Don't ask, idiot." All of a sudden the screen on Al's machine exploded in colors. Al had hit the five-spot. The ticket cashed for $393. I looked down at the three fives on the table. I had five dollars in credits. We had won a grand total of $13.

"You're gonna have to stiff her for the tip."
"Yeah, I know" Al said.
"How'd ya'll boahs do" she asked as we approached the bar.
"Maghta fahn, ma'am, maghta fahn" Al said. "We wonned thirteen dollahs."
"Well, ahm sa glad ya'll boahs wun" she said as she cashed the ticket. "Gonna try yur luck agin?"
"No, ma'am. We's a late fer gittin inta Cut Bank."
"Well, ya'll boahs stop in an se us agin."
"Yes, ma'am. An ya'll cum se us tooo."

"I get the extra dollar. You got it last time" I said as we climbed in the car.
"Yeah, yeah. Looks like we clipped this town for $10 after expenses. And now it's on to Cut Bank, where I'm sure we ought be able to make 15 or twenty dollars. Hey! Wait a minute! Did you check to see where that meter reset?
"Yeah. It reset at $100."
"With the ten percent meter where does that put the game?"
"A 1.2% advantage. It's got a huge hourly rate. About $2.25 an hour per machine. Do you think we ought stay here and tag it?" I said facetiously.
"Cut Bank here we come" said Al.

#3

I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.

  But the hotel room had cost us $81.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Mickey" <mickeycrimm@...> wrote:

#4

Gotta say, me too.
Guessing this was before Priceline.

TC

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

···

On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.

#5

Mickey you said it was fifty cents a spin and the progressive was at $257.
A 5 spot pays 800 quarters or $200 dollars for a twenty-five cent bet. A fifty cent bet would pay $400 without any progressive

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Mickey" <mickeycrimm@...> wrote:

"Hey! Al! C'mon over here and take a look at these two old IGT clunkers." Al was across the room punching up games and looking for plays. But he walked on over.

"Damn! What is that? Vintage 1980's?"
"Yep" I responded Old 1980's IGT keno clunkers."
"So what's the big deal?"
"Take a look at the 5-spot progressive."

Al squinted at the number. The progressive was at $257.
"Is that a play?" he asked.
"Yes. It's worth a little money."

We were in Shelby, Montana. We had checked into a hotel then scouted the town out for plays. We hadn't found much. Just a few hundred dollars in expectation. And we ran rough on that. We were up a grand total of $78 for the day. But the hotel room had cost us $81. And we were staring at two old IGT clunker keno machines with linked progressives in an old rundown bar/casino.

"What's the cost to spin it off?" Al asked
"Well, it's a fifty cent bet and with that payscale about $160. But hold on. I'll pinpoint it."

#6

Mickey you said it was fifty cents a spin and the progressive was at $257. A 5 spot pays 800 quarters or $200 dollars for a twenty-five cent bet. A fifty cent bet would pay $400 without any progressive

I'm sure that's true on the machines that you are familiar with. But payscales on keno games come in many different configurations.The particular machines we were playing had a payscale of:

3/5....5 for 1
4/5....30 for 1
5/5....200 for 1....+10% progressive meter.

If you do the math you will see that the average cost to produce a solid five is $169.

#7

> I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.

Tabbycat wrote:

Gotta say, me too. Guessing this was before Priceline.

It was June, 2011. Shelby is on the highline, very close to Glacier Park. All the towns on the highline are very small. Not that many hotels. The closer you get to Glacier Park in the summertime the harder it is to get a hotel room. They sell out every night. So you have to make reservations well in advance. We paid $101 for a Super 8 hotel room in Cut Bank.

In Kalispell there is a flea bag hotel called the Blue & White. Just $44 a night there. The rest of the hotels, even Motel 6, are up around $100 a night for that time of year. May through September is the tourist season here. The rest of the year the hotel rates are about half of what they are in the summertime.

···

On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@...> wrote:

#8

So the people playing Keno with a different number of spotswere subsidizing your plays?

···

--- On Fri, 12/14/12, Mickey <mickeycrimm@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Mickey <mickeycrimm@yahoo.com>
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: Two Nevada Casino Hustler's in the Outback
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, December 14, 2012, 11:56 AM

      Mickey you said it was fifty cents a spin and the progressive was at $257. A 5 spot pays 800 quarters or $200 dollars for a twenty-five cent bet. A fifty cent bet would pay $400 without any progressive

I'm sure that's true on the machines that you are familiar with. But payscales on keno games come in many different configurations.The particular machines we were playing had a payscale of:

3/5....5 for 1

4/5....30 for 1

5/5....200 for 1....+10% progressive meter.

If you do the math you will see that the average cost to produce a solid five is $169.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#9

> I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.
Gotta say, me too.
Guessing this was before Priceline.

TC

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Tabbycat <tabbycat@...> wrote:

On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@...> wrote:

________________________________________________________

I thought the story is contemporary.

But either way, I would've expected a quintessential hustler like Mickey to have a hustle for a discounted if not comped room.

And $81 in what sounds like a one horse town?

#10

NOTE - IGNORE BELOW COMMENTS -

Mickey - I overlooked your response to my op in your post #123239.
Thanks for explaining.

···

I thought the story is contemporary.

But either way, I would've expected a quintessential hustler like Mickey to have a hustle for a discounted if not comped room.

And $81 in what sounds like a one horse town?

#11

Supply and demand. LV has like what 150,000 hotel rooms? East Podunk, Montana might only have one hotel.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@...> wrote:

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Tabbycat <tabbycat@> wrote:
>
>
> On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@> wrote:
>
> > I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.
> Gotta say, me too.
> Guessing this was before Priceline.
>
> TC
________________________________________________________

I thought the story is contemporary.

But either way, I would've expected a quintessential hustler like Mickey to have a hustle for a discounted if not comped room.

And $81 in what sounds like a one horse town?

#12

I'm pretty sure cities don't have an exogenous supply of hotels so you should rethink that logic. The hotels probably get enough gaming action in lv to make the same if not more per night as the more expensive hotel mentioned.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "mike" <melbedewy1226@...> wrote:

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@> wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Tabbycat <tabbycat@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@> wrote:
> >
> > > I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.
> > Gotta say, me too.
> > Guessing this was before Priceline.
> >
> > TC
> ________________________________________________________
>
> I thought the story is contemporary.
>
> But either way, I would've expected a quintessential hustler like Mickey to have a hustle for a discounted if not comped room.
>
> And $81 in what sounds like a one horse town?
>
Supply and demand. LV has like what 150,000 hotel rooms? East Podunk, Montana might only have one hotel.

#13

Man, I'd invest in a pup tent and a sleeping bag.

gj

···

On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 1:42 PM, jwboothjw <traveller88888@hotmail.com>wrote:

**

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Tabbycat <tabbycat@...> wrote:

>
>
> On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:43 PM, "jwboothjw" <traveller88888@...> wrote:
>
> > I'm shocked that you're paying $81 for a hotel room.
> Gotta say, me too.
> Guessing this was before Priceline.
>
> TC
________________________________________________________

I thought the story is contemporary.

But either way, I would've expected a quintessential hustler like Mickey
to have a hustle for a discounted if not comped room.

And $81 in what sounds like a one horse town?

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]