Oh Yes They Call Him the Streak

The D welcomed me into with its non-stop party, with legs spread further apart than they should be for the shortness of her skirt, an off-center glassy-eyed gaze and slurred speech, which could barely be heard over the poundy-poundy soundtrack. Then it insisted on shaking my hand, and shouting at me "I LOVE YOU, MAN..."

It didn't slow me down - I had $5 free play and I aimed to use all of it in one glorious sitting. But first, the Vue bar and an iced Maker's Mark had my interest.

I haven't played often at this bar, but I should. Where else are you going to find a progressive 8/5 Bonus Poker bartop?

My twenty slipped in and play began. I noticed that the progressive on the straight flush was up there pretty high, and reflected that I hadn't hit one so far this trip, despite many draws from four.

Not more than two sips in, a beautiful sight spread itself across my screen. I muttered a "Holy shit!", but didn't fuck around with a photo or anything. With a progressive winner, you don't want to risk having someone else hit it while you are posing for Instagrampa. No, I held all the cards, did a quick check, checked it again, and hit Draw, locking in not only a dealt straight flush, but a sequential one to boot. What a beautiful thing!

Damn, what a lucky hand! I played a few more and cashed out at some fairly even number, blew the $5 freeplay (got nothing) and bailed.

Out on Fremont I spotted my friend, Mr. Rasta Steeldrumplayerman - and now that I think about it, didn't I start winning yesterday after getting a nod from him?

He was dragging his equipment along Fremont for the day's musicmaking, and I stopped, shook his hand, and said hello.

"I love your smile, and I love your music," I said.

He smiled more.

Now I was bound to be even more lucky!

On I went, enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures. This week of the year is the best time of year to visit Las Vegas, followed closely by the remaining 51 weeks of the year. But the weather in mid October is just stunningly gorgeous, like myself.

I walked along the sidewalk beside the ElCo, along Fremont, and ducked in the last door. The Keno desk Sheila checked my ticket and awarded me $17.50, a princely sum amounting to some 23.837% of my wager. So that counts as a speedbump in the winning cash expressway.

Fancying another drink, I sat down at Ike's bar and put a $5 bill into the bartop.

Monday Wonday

Boy, having a winning day in Vegas sure improves your mood. I woke up brimming with joy, and cash, ready to take on the casinos.

It always takes a few days to get my Vegas legs on - there is no sense of false confidence here, this time. I know that things can run very badly. I made that mistake the other day with an early win of a couple of hundred, and then a slide into tilt city, with an all you can lose pass.

That said, there is another side to this. Streaks are streaky and they do continue. Flusher's rule. And just like in baseball, you never fuck with a streak.

I did the coffee in the room thing and did some writing for y'all, and then I headed down to the Luxor casino to see what was what, and have breakfast at the Pyramid Cafe.

Will I never learn about Mlife resort credits? My offer came with $100. But it doesn't cover parking fees. It doesn't cover purchases at the little stores. It covers food, and entertainment.

So that's how I found myself with about $70 unused. That's a big stack of hotcakes, I can tell you.

I ordered a veggie omelette with cheese, side of turkey sausage. It was one of those meals that nothing is quite right. The coffee wasn't really hot. The avocado on top of the omelette was iced. And looked like hell. The hash browns were cold. The sausage didn't come until I asked. They were luke warm. Fortunately the eggs were piping hot, but it just wasn't my kind of omelette. It was solid egg all through folded over some veg from a bin. And about 0.204828 oz. of cheese. Toast was dead cold and you had to butter it yourself with ice cold butter. Breakfast: $30.

I didn't complain, I just wanted to be done. Nothing was going to sully my mood today.

The High Limit area beckoned and I sat down to play some quarter short pay Bonus Poker on Spin Poker, one line at a time. The first $20 went fairly well, but did disappear. The second $20 went great! I played for an hour solid rapidly advanced to 3 lines. (I was *not* going to do the stupid tilt 9 lines at a time.) Some nice quads came my way and I cashed out some winnings.

Luxor could not be vacated without a final visit to the Buffalo ATM - and on a whim, I played its neighbor.

Two Two Two Two Much Winning

I kicked around Main Street some, playing this and that, twenty here, twenty there. Loose Deuces, Aces No Face, Treasure Chest, more nickel Super Times Pay... on one game I was dealt four to a Royal yet again.

Fanned on it yet again.

Comped soup and salad bar at the California made up lunch. It's important for gamblers to eat their vegetables if they want to stay savvy. I'm happy to say that the tradition of the Single Lonely Diner table is alive and well and applicable to me, yet again.

The only table worse than mine is the chair without a table at all.

Different machines at the Cal refused to give me royals, or money, or Buffaloes.  My day's winnings were half gone. Was my streak at an end?

It was such a gorgeous day out yesterday. Temps in the low 80s, breezy, sunny. I wandered to the Nugget and did get my $25 freeplay. One had to go to the cage to get it because there was a choice of freeplay or a Visa gift card. Should have taken the gift card. I played dollar Jacks progressive and ran it up to $40 or so and then watched it all disappear in a series of stinkers.

Onward - to the D... where I picked up $10 in match play chips. Bought in for $20 on blackjack, won the match play, and cashed out $40. I used $5 in freeplay on points but got nothing. Good pit stop though, and on I went to the El Cortez.

The keno tickets from the day before netted me $42. The keno tickets from the day before cost $72. Sadness.

Next stop, the Downtown Deuces. Same machine I hit the $500 ducks on earlier this year. Put in $20 and started to hit hands, except the big one. Yet again missed on four to a Royal.

Half an hour in, though, I was dealt three Deuces. I got the Quad Queen on facetime so she could witness the draw.

YES! $500 hand pay!

Pointies Kicker Pointies Kicker Pointies Kicker

When I got up this morning, I had two things on my mind.

One, is pizza left overnight without refrigeration still good, and two, what can I possibly do with five bucks to avoid doing the walk of shame for a second consecutive day.

Yes, the $500 marker I took yesterday was gone - except for the five beans.

What prospects did I have? I had some Hooters coupons - and others as well, but Hooters is nearby - but they take play to get the free play to kick in. I also had my Excalibur Keno ticket from two nights ago.

I decided to start gambling immediately without delay, and with great abandon - by snarfing down half a 16" room temperature pizza. (As of 16 hours later, I am having minimal fever dreams, so I think I'm going to pull through. Bonus. Oh - and my spirit animal is the Great Tubular Pepperoni.)

Showering delayed actual money gambling for a while, so that was good.

By the way, a couple of logistical points... I used the Amazon locker site at the 7-11 on Oakey to receive a package - worked like a charm.

And, I think I've solved the TSA-acceptable shaving cream issue with this stuff: Pacific Shaving Company Natural Shaving Cream, 3.4 Ounces

It is okay under TSA guidelines, and doesn't have any overpowering perfumey smell - in fact, it smells lightly of oranges. I find this to be very appealing.

Orange a-peeling in fact.

It worked pretty well when razor met Flusher, too. The tube was a little over $5, so I'm pleased to have this solved.

My plan was to walk over to Excalibur and check my Keno ticket - maybe there was a windfall I didn't know about. Then I'd pile into the rental car, pockets bulging with five or even six dollars, and head to Hooters. From there, I'd go downtown... probably to the Main Street cage.

The rain had let up and the sun was starting to show itself - and my ticket was worth $17.50! I had a stake!

Next stop, Hooters. I even got a good spot.

The slot club Sheila told me I had to play $10 worth before getting my $10 free play. She issued my $10 table games match play on the spot.

I found a likely looking machine with 8/5 Bonus on it and put in $10. The first few hands were winner, and the credits were going up, not down - and I hit paydirt almost right away.

It should be noted that I got suckered - this is FAKE BONUS POKER with all quads being worth 150 credits. Sadness.

I cashed out after playing a few more hands - nothing more exciting was immediately happening - and I had a profit of $40 just like that.

Next stop, the blackjack table, where three guys from Bangalore were trying to see who could make the stupidest bets, and who could stand on the stupidest hands.

My purple chip fund had a lowly $20 in it, so that was my buy-in.

It didn't affect me much and when I played my match play, it was a double situation. So I had $30 out - and I won. When I left the table a few hands later, I had this:

The cashier sorted them into a group of five red chips, and the rest. She gave me $45 and I ran for the door.

Hooters was very profitable for me - I had $85 more than when I walked in. Best part was that I had a very good parking spot.

The drive downtown was pleasant enough and I parked at Main Street Station and headed for the Super Slutty Times Pay nickel machine I'd had luck on previously with the 5x Aces.

Within a couple of minutes, I was surprised with four Pointies.

Got the kicker, too.

Cool! That's $100! After revealing my scratch card bonus of $1, I played another hand.

Then I played a second hand and got this:

Pounding Candy

I've been out and about most of the day, so now that it's Saturday night, I can spend some time getting you all caught up.

What a day. It's been... something. Intense.

After visiting my Buffalo ATM this morning, I got in the Nissan Altituda and drove down to the Nugget, where I thought I had $50 in free play waiting.

I had nought.

I played some of their less than stellar video poker, figuring I might need some points to trigger the freeplay.

Nought.

Then, the boothling told me, when I wanted my parking validated, that I had 10 points and needed 20. So I had to play more substandard video poker. And in so doing all of this crap, I donated like $60 to the Nugget.

Yep, you got me. Fine.

Over at the Cal, the lineup for the coffee shop was snaking down the wall outside the Redwood, so I opted for the counter. I didn't have to wait long. The western omelette I had was excellent, so good in fact, that no photo could do it justice. So I skipped that part.

So here's the thing. It was time for the walk of shame. I had to go and take a marker. Overall it's been a tough trip.

No sooner did I take care of that humiliating chore, I hit a quad on Slutty Times Pay nickels. And shortly thereafter, I hit a beauty of 5x Pointies.

5x pointies. No kicker, though.

The kicker would have made this a 10,000 nickel hit. Aka $500. Bygones. I even got a $1 scratchcard for each quad.

Now, aside from a brief bright spot at the Mikes bar at the Four Queens, in the guise of a quad, things went to shit. That quad played out and before I knew it, $60 had gone.