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Saturday, September 15, 2018

Dropping the Extra Quarter

Day 8 - Saturday - continued

A couple of trips ago, when Max was selling me a Keno ticket with a bunch of ways at 25 cents each, he said to me, "Why don't you throw an extra quarter on the seven out of seven - make it worth your while in case it hits, and doesn't cost much."

It was sage advice. And I'd forgotten all about it. SHIT.

See, this is the way the gambler's mind works. I had won $1200. I was ecstatic. But after remembering what Max said, I'm upset - I could have won more 'if only'.

A second quarter on the six out of six on my ticket would have netted me an extra $500. Goddamn.

But then I thought about it some more - that would be $1700. There's no tax deducted on keno wins up to $1500. The extra $500 would take me over the line. They'd deduct 30% tax off the top for being Canadian. That's $510. I'd be left with... $1190.

Sure, I could file and get the tax back if I had a losing year. I'd see it in 18 months to 2 years from now, if everything went smoothly. There are no guarantees when filing taxes.

My baby brain got soothed from its temper tantrum and finally went down for its nap. It was okay. I could be happy.

I was never really that unhappy, but you know how you second guess things... I COULD HAVE!!!

The remaining games were non-events, and when it was done, I went back down in triumph, told Max, "I told you this was the one," collected my dough, tipped the keno crew out, and...

...played the numbers again.

The ticket I'd cashed on the Diamond Head machine while in the throes of a keno klimax was worth $47.50 - a nice little stake for triple play deuces. In the first eight hands, I don't see a single duck. It's so bad that I check to see if I'm really playing the right game.

The $47.50 goes in 90 seconds. That's the way luck is sometimes - it can spike, and then it can lay down like it never got out of bed in the first place. Nobody wants bedridden luck, I can tell you.

Treasure Chest is nearby and I pick a good little upright. Ten bucks lasts me a solid hour, but I don't get a single quad. When it's out I put in $20 and it lasts for a solid hour. I get two quads, and on one of them, I facetime the QQ so she can pick a chest. She tells me which one she wants and I drunkbutton the wrong one. SORRY!


When the second quad comes around, I do it again and do it right. Maria comes by to take a drink order and I put her on facetime. She great, so pleasant - she humors me and says Hi to the QQ.

In return I don't let it go on for more than 15 seconds. She goes, and a rowdy drunk group wanders by and it seems like a good idea to put them on facetime, which I do.

The yell, and whoop, and sway, and most of a beer gets dumped on the seat next to me. The rest of that beer gets dumped on Royal Flusher. I don't mind. I'm a winner.


All that gambling makes a young lad crave... the Hawaiian hamburger steak, with its incredible torrents of onion gravy. It's fantastic as always, but in a concession to health, I lose the fries and get brown rice instead. I devour the thing.


Buffalo coughs up a bonus - and this time I actually cash out a ticket instead of playing it into the prairie dust.

That $50 goes into Pinchy in the alcove, and I work it up to $200. I'm on fire today!


The evening gets rounded out with some blackjack. I do my usual $100 buy in, win some, move from $5 bets to $10 bets. I get up past $200, and it's kind of a replay. I protect the $200 and play with whatever I have above that.

I put a $15 bet out to see if I can really get this thing going. I have to double, so another $15 goes out. I lose the hand by one. These hands are important - if I win, I have $60. If I lose, I have $0. It's a $60 swing.

That puts a nail in it and I color the $200 and walk.

This would be a good time to quit for the night... but I just can't. I go back to the alcove for some Ultra Bonus, to try and hit a homer that will put me solidly up for the trip.

I meet a sweet little old I.S.G. who is enamoured... with my Ultra Bonus. She likes the looks of that and tries to find it on her machine. It doesn't have it.

The screen goes dark on me and I have some fun with her - explaining that I was told to give the glass a good whack.

"Really?"

WHACK!

Sure enough, it lights up again. Good ole Pinchy!

She cashes - she wants to play Ultra Bonus! I tell her where else there are machines that have it and off she goes.

Eventually, I call it a night. I don't have anything left that I want to do today - I feel completely satisfied, which is a wonderful thing in Vegas. It's been over a week and I'm down 146 bucks.

I get one more keno ticket (degenerate), have a couple of drinks in the room, chill, smile, relax and feel thankful.

And think about tomorrow's races! Sato!!!

VP Day: -$185
Blackjack Day: +$100
KENO DAY: +$1,110

Trip: -$146 <-- lookee here!!!








    1 comment:

    1. Have you tried the Korean Chicken at hawaiian specialties upstairs at Cal?
      I uber downtown for this...well worth it.

      ReplyDelete

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