Sausage and Pepers

Day 12 - Part 2

BAM!!! I let Stinky Guy have the high five with a might resounding smack, heard throughout the entire casino, echoing down Fremont, flesh to flesh, man to (maybe) man, clean to stinky.

We were now brothers.

I didn't get a quad but as you can see, I made out like a bandit on the 10x pay. 700 quarters.

My run continued! See for yourself!

I put'er up over 1000 credits. And that's when I parlayed. To five-play.

Mistake. I'd thought that THIS.... would be my moment. Five play. Super Times Pay. I'd get some huge dealt hand with a multiplier...

Yes I did get a couple of quads but before long I'd dropped from over 1200 credits to below 1000. I was costing 30 credits a hand, so getting on a streak of losing hands could sink me quickly. And it did.

I kept playing five-play wayyyyy too long. The further I dropped the more I didn't want to switch back to triple and conserve my dough.

Before I knew it I was down to 400 credits. And then I switched back. I'd squandered my run again. Then I was at 140 credits. This was heading down, spiraling into the ground.

Now I wish I'd actually gone somewhere in the paid for rental Toyelpa Corolla instead of fucking with Chromecast all day.

Damn you Randolph Mantooth.

DAMN you.

No matter how many times I learn this, I have to re-learn this: HAVE A PLAN.

I made a plan. Get rid of Stinky Guy, and get back up to 1200 quarters. I wanted redemption.

I set to work. Before long, S.G. was out. He left and the Quad Queen left to go and play some Pick'em. I think maybe she couldn't bear to see me hit the ground in flames.

Next, I was joined by some really nice company, Rose and her daughters. It started when the elderly Rose, next to me on my right, was trying to access her free play. Long story short, I patiently, patiently helped her out. It reminded me of how many times I'd helped my own mother, particularly in the last couple of years. It made me miss her even more.

We got Rose going and I started playing. And I got talking to the woman on my left - Rose's daughter. She had a hand of nothing - RAZGU.

"Do you think it's better to just throw the hand away like they say to do, or to just keep something randomly and hope for the best?"

"I don't think I know, I do know what's better. Look at this..."

I whipped out my piPhone 3.14 and showed her the grainy 320x160 pixel photos I'd taken of the time a few days ago when I got four Aces on the redeal.

"It's much better to throw the whole hand away."

"Wow..." she said, "you just never know!"

"Well, you know what Royal Flusher says," I said.

"What?"

"He says, 'Where there are credits, there are hope!'"

"And who's Royal... Flusher?"

"I am," I said, confident of my answer.

And that's when I got this:

Dealt Straight Flush on Triple Play. Savvy!

For a moment I considered going for the Royal, but no. It was the wrong hold. The EV on the straight flush was two and a half times the Royal try, in the long run.

We chatted a bit more. There were three daughters, living in Hawaii (like Rose), Seattle, and Texas. And they'd all meet up in Vegas.

It sounded really nice and I envied them a little.

I kept at it and hit some more. I was nearly there.

I'd clawed my way from 140 credits all the way back to over 1400.

I kept going, but set a cash-out point at 1200 and that was where I bailed and said goodnight to Rose and her girls. In the end, not a bad showing.

In the men's room, I washed my hands 30 times.

And then I found the Quad Queen bangin' on the Pick'em machines. I fired up Boner Deluxe....

Meanwhile, the Fremont announcer was at it again with the Burning Sevens promotion. And at one point, deftly pointed out, "We're still going here as... as the winners continue... to win."

Okay then.

This was a seesaw day for me. I'd gone down a bunch - like five or six hundred. Then won some back. I was still maybe $200 in the hole. There was a chance to pull it out for this day. Meanwhile Mrs. F, you'll note, had hardly hit a thing at Fremont. She was down bigtime.

The culinary union was picketing various downtown casinos. It turned out not to be much of a big deal.

WE WANT FULL PAY VP! WE WANT FULL PAY VP!

We played a bit over at the bar at the Four Queens. Mrs. F was trying for a Jacks progressive and I was losing $80. She switched to Double Double Bonus just in time to hit Aces kicker for $500. And so excited was I, that I forgot to grab a picture of it.

Back at the Cal, we nipped up to the room for a break. In the hallway, we bumped into our maid, as we usually did two or three times a day. The conversation always went like this.

"Hello, do you need service today?"

"No thanks. We're good. How are you today?"

"I'm blessed thank you. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Have a blessed day. Do you need towels?"

"No thanks. Take care."

"Thank you, I'm blessed! Have a blessed day!"

Setting up some carnival rides.

In the room, we gazed out at another gorgeous afternoon. They were setting up some carnival rides in the parking lot. What kind of town do they think this is with that kind of shenanigans???!!! This is Vegas. We don't do 'fun' here.

Back downstairs, we saw our host to pick up the buffet comp for dinner. She was engaged with an engaging young Chinese woman. I knew our host was in trouble when I saw the binder full of product sheets.

"Hi there, don't let me interrupt!" I said.

"No, no.... we're just talking, what can I do for you?"

I explained about the arranged comp and she printed it up.

"So, what are you selling?" I asked the saleswoman.

"The highest quality skin care products known to the world."

"Gosh, I should probably invest in some quality skin care products," I said.

She started to show me some things and gave me her card.

Kay was backed by the finest in Korean science, including the 'purification technology of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and medical fermentation science'.

I gave her one of my 9,973 remaining official Royal Flusher business cards.

"I'm into fermentation too, Kay," I said.

"Are you really interested?..." she asked.

"Well... a man's skin is very important, isn't it. This looks nice here, you should show that to my host right away!" I said.

I got the stare of death from my host and I smiled at her.

"Why don't you show her the rest of the product line - I'll just step away and be back in a jiffy."

We went over and ate buffet. It was acceptable. I mostly gorged myself on sausage. And pepers.

Triple play. Lose lose lose for me.

I decided to take a break and hit the craps table. Bought in for a hundred. Lost my first bets. I took the dice and went on a mini-heater! I made six or seven points, including ten twice in a row, which is a tough point to make. When I sevened out I had $285 in my rack. I played a while longer and colored up $225.

See. Saw. Win. Lose. QQ did have some hits on triple play, and I joined her to finally grind my day deeply into the red. It was one of those days filled with frustration and punctuated by high points of wins where you think you've got it sorted, only to slide into the muck again.

You'll notice those are all QQ Quads up there. And on triple play, you crash fast if you aren't hitting. We played hard because it was the Quad Queen's last night in Vegas. I so much wanted her to win big, but it wasn't happening. Still, I was pretty happy for her to at least eke out a win on the day.

Quad Queen: +$140 day -$1570 trip
Royal Flusher: -$560 day +$760 trip

My Royal money was almost gone. And this trip, combined, was turning into another loser.