Wizard of Odds Newsletter | July 29, 2003
My recent gambling results
This was a tough week on the gambling front. You may remember from last week that the Suncoast casino is having weekly drawing worth $100,000. This week I had the idea to lay off baseball bets I take in from others. Unfortunately the days I did this I had the winning sides of almost every game and gave away $3500 in what I would have otherwise won. However as I always say, it isn't whether you win or lose but whether it was a good bet. In this situation I was both lowering my risk to almost zero and with the 10 cent baseball lines at the Suncoast I had the opportunity to earn tickets at an average of $2 each, and each ticket I estimate to be worth $3 to $4. Although there were about 20% fewer tickets in the drum that last week I still lost.
My first hand-pay in video poker
To take away some of the sting I had my first hand pay in video poker on Monday. I had a 7:00 dinner appointment at the Las Vegas Club and arrived half an hour early so decided to hit the $1 10/7 double bonus machines at the Four Queens, which include 0.5% cash back. After 10 minutes I was dealt three aces for the third time. The third time was the charm and I hit the fourth ace, paying $800. The Four Queens is still a coin based casino and a win that big has to be hand paid. So I turned on my change light and waited and waited for someone to pay me. After about 10 minutes a change woman noticed my four aces and in broken English said "congratulations." She then tried to butter me up with questions. I had heard of this kind of thing happening before so I did my best to ignore her. However she was obstinate and just stood behind me for 10 more minutes, selling a coin roll occasionally, and still peppering me with questions.
Finally after 20 minutes somebody came around and give me seven $100 bills, eight $20 bills, and two $10 bills. I am a believer in proper tipping and gave the lady who paid me $10. However the change lady still kept saying "congratulations" in her broken English. I had always heard that when someone hits a big jackpot employees come out of the woodwork at hand pay time, hovering around like vultures looking for a tip. Although this seemed to be a nice older lady trying to hit me up I was taking a stand and would not encourage her behavior. So after being paid I turned away from her and pretended to look for something in my wallet, for at least a true minute. Finally she and her change cart slowly left and I made a quick escape in the other direction. I felt like a weasel but am glad I didn't cave in.
This week's special offer
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Thanks for reading. Until next time, set your expectations high.