Whiffing Tommy Wind

Day 11 - Part 1

Play blackjack at the Tropicana - and lose your shirt.

This morning, I had news from M_ILIS, for whom I'd left a Royal Flusher business card in a place in the Luxor casino where it was sure not to be disturbed - in the box holding the "When the Fun Stops" gambling addiction pamphlets.

He'd followed my directions and yes! the card was there!!! Here's the message I got:

So this just happened, and it probably couldn't be more perfect: I followed your instructions, and as I lifted the bunch of pamphlets out of their holder, I got a glimpse of my treasure... only to have it slip behind and below the stack as I lifted it. It proceeded to fall down in the slot where the pamphlets go, wedging itself snugly in the bottom of the holder! I tried in vain for several minutes to dislodge it, but it appears you are now forever woven into the fabric that is Luxor Las Vegas. :)

Thanks anyway, M_ILIS

And he included a photo:

If anyone has skinny hands, the card is likely still there. If you go and find it, post a picture on my Facebook page.

Next time M_ILIS, next time!

Sunrise in Vegas

Sunrise in Vegas. Again.

What's a fella to do for breakfast when a fella doesn't have a breakfast comp? Gamble for it. I returned to my favorite nickel machine and got a coffee from the Cocktail and Coffee Sheila and went at it.

From the WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY Department:

WHY would you play 10 hands a 4 credits a hand???? Why not, say, 8 hands at 5 credits a hand. Lord help me.

I keep seeing that people have played 4 credits a hand instead of 5, thus shorting the Royal by 75%. Is it that they can't wrap their brains around playing something other than an exact dollar amount per hand? Drives me (more) crazy.

I'm not sure I want to post all the pictures of teeny-tiny quads and I'm not sure you want to see them all. So here's a little selection.

As you can see, I did well, and parlayed up to 15 hands at 4 credits per hand.

Kidding.

15 hands at 5 per, and hey, I put $30 in, played 70 minutes, and took $82.75 out. Breakfast... Paid for.

As savvy I was at nickel gambling, I wasn't (savvy) at ordering breakfast. I opted for the Grab 'n Puke Quick and Dirty Gut-bomb station, which whips up various things as you wait. In this case, I waited for their take on a Egg a-Muffin.

$9.72 for this ersatz Egg a-Muffin.

I guess it was OK, but there was just something plain and lonely about it. I ate it down. I wished I had gone to Hooters.

Thank goodness I was already a winner. After eating, it was back into the casino, for more easy pickin's, hopefully.

I circled around the slots just north of the pit, looking for a hapless target, dripping with credits, ready and willing and motivated to give them to me. I played a few credits here, a few there, and on machine number three, I hit something that looked promising.

I got to have that fun moment where the credits start rolling up and you really are not sure what you've won, and you just kind of ride it out, watching them climb.

Not earthshattering, but hey - I was taking the small wins and with this, I was up $80 on the day. Good stuff.

There was one thing about this slot - I couldn't figure out how I had won. I mean - obviously I had Double Double Wild, but how did that come out to 160 credits? I still have no idea.

Good for me, and showing, again, great discipline, I cashed out.

With that, I was up $80 on the day on gambling. Not bad at all. It was time to wander back to the room and get packed up.

I was going to miss the good ole Tropicana, but I had busy plans to get around the valley today - I had to hand back my wonderful Poon Stang later on.

And that's when I realized the horrible awful truth - I had completely forgotten to use my $12 Groupon ticket for The Breathless Musical Magic of Tommy Wind. His show is supposed to be a gas, but without the car, there was no way I was going to schlep from Mandalay Bay to anywhere within the scent of the Tommy Wind Theatre. I had to face it - I blew it and whiffed on my Tommy Wind show.

Well, maybe I could use the Groupon next trip, whenever that was. I packed up all my stuff, hauled it down to the Poon Stang, and took off east.

More to come!

---

I got a couple of explanations of my slot win from various savvy Flushies. Here's one from knagl:

On the "Wild Double Lucky Strike" machine you were playing, you had single bar, single bar, wild.  That would normally pay 20 coins.  But, each of the single bars also contained the "double" symbol, and per the rules of the game as you posted in the pictures, if all three payline symbols are a combination of symbols with the "double" designation and/or there's a wild, it pays 8x.  8*20=160.

That makes good sense to me. Thanks to all who provided an explanation!

R.F.