Cash Money Joy and the Cloak of Loserdom

Day 3 cont'd - Gambling luck is strange and fleeting. There are definitely streaks - in both directions. And when two people are involved, it can flip between them. We've seen it so many times.

Just about the time the Quad Queen started to stop losing constantly, I stopped winning.

You go back, Jack, do it again. Wheel turnin 'round and 'round.

By the time I cashed out of the video poker machine that had given me a series of quick quads, a straight flush, and a terrible drink, I'd lost back all the winnings of the morning.

And somehow, Mrs. F. was up a little bit. Okay.

We decided to eat a burger or something and hit up Wahlburger across the street at Horseshoe aka Ballys. We had a Wahlburger at an airport once and it was pretty good.

It was colder outside than it looked and Wahlburger was freezing. It was like the place wasn't heated.

I'm not sure why we ended up here, this was just the kind of strip place I'd vowed to avoid.

The burgers were okay, nothing outstanding. The fries were 're-fries'. Where they take the once good chips and stick 'em back in the deep fryer to heat them up. Then end up hard and glassine with absorbed grease.

We sent the fries back. For five bucks a pop I want fresh fries. The ones that came back were excellent. So why not bring those ones in the first place instead of the shitty ones?

The food comes in baskets with a paper lining. This is something that I absolutely hate. You're a restaurant, for $40 give me a plate.

I moved the sheet of paper with the burger on it out of the basket to the table and this is the cruddy, rusting, disgusting basket I found underneath. Fail.

To complete the strip experience, they add 3.9% to the tab if you pay with credit or debit card. I paid cash.

I also asked the manager about the gross baskets, but she said it was rust from chips and they do wash them. I showed my photo and in the end, she didn't care much.

Even if it is only rust, do you really want to be eating from a rusty basket with a thin bit of paper on it?

One and done, Wahlburger. My bad for choosing you.

We walked through Ballys aka Horseshoe or is it Mirage Hard Rock or does anyone know anymore?

In Paris, I went stupid. I don't know why.

I threw $100 into an old, old, old slot with a $43,000 progressive on it. I pounded that through in two minutes with $5 as the largest win. Now I know how the progressive got to be $43K.

Not content enough to be on stupid tilt, I threw another hundred into some stupid video poker machine. The Quad Queen told me not to, she could sense the cloak of loserdom I was wearing like a blanket of shame.

Boner Deluxe. Super short pay. Stupid. Gone in another two minutes and we huffed outta there, my ego bruised, my anger screaming, and my knee burning, getting worse with every step. Pain in all things. All part of the Vegas experience!

We went over to Cosmo to pick up some free play that isn't available until Dec. 16th. Denied.

Now everything I poked at just drained away.

But the Quad Queen was picking up, doing the things that I couldn't do, now that momentum had shifted to her.

I found myself down $400 for the day at least before we snuck out the back way like a couple of escapees. Manfredi and Johnson perhaps.

This hurt especially because I'd seen a $600 swing from the morning. And I was blowing the $800 win I'd had the day before. Such is gambling.

Being on tilt and in such a negative headspace, it was time for a break to rest my anger, and my knee. Back up in the room, I crashed out in a horizontal orientation for a while.

"Do you think you're going to sleep?" asked the Quad Queen, waking me up.

"I was already asleep," I said.

She wanted to go down and play more, which was fine with me.

After maybe 25 minutes or so, the phone rang and woke me up. I knew it could mean only one thing and I was instantly excited and energized.

I threw on my clothes (which is a trick I mastered in Flusherville Klown Kollege, it's all in getting enough height on the throw), and headed to the casino.

The Quad Queen's lovely Royal Flush from two.

Yup, she'd done it, she'd hit a Royal Flush! I couldn't have been happier for her, because it marked an achievement and cash money joy after being away for so long, a reward, a delight.

I couldn't have been happier for me, because with an extra thou in the coffers, I could now afford to lose more.

Which I generally did. Nothing would work for me. I played a full 50 minutes on triple play with not a single quad. The QQ did get a few but generally was having a similar problem. The spinners weren't multiplying much, and the quads were scarce.

She lent me $20 and we played it together in Double Top Dollar. I managed to get a $75 and cashed out $105. At least I had something to play with now.

I settled in on a very slow video keno machine. A single five spot ticket, 75 cents a throw, looking for a $628.50 payout.

It never came, but I spent an hour diddling and dinging.

The QQ was still hammering hard, still on that "I haven't been here in so long" gambling hunger.

She took a shot at $100 Shockwave, going for the $4000 prize if you get two quads within 10 hands. The problem is, you have to actually get a quad to get started, and none came. She had a really nice long play though, with two or three fulls house to keep her going. All of a sudden, though, it dumped, and that idea would have to be put back on hold.

We headed back to the room and realized we needed water from the car. I'll keep this short and remove all the self-flagellation. A) I knew we needed water but didn't bring the keys from the room when we went out and about to Wahlfuckyouburger. B) I went to the garage on the sore knee to find the car, and find the Tercel keys in my pocket. C) I shlepped back to the room to get the correct keys. D) I shlepped back to the garage, QQ in tow, bless her, got the water, and shlepped all the way back to the room. E) I suck sometimes. F) Punishment sandwich with punishment cheese.

I suppose I shouldn't complain about eating off paper when I was eating off tinfoil for dinner. What a degenerate!

The numbers... they aren't too bad.

The Quad Queen really played a lot after her Royal and finished up $540 on the day. A solid performance.

I finished down $640 on the day. Awful.

That puts her down just $20 on the trip, and me down $140 for a combined loss of $160 on the trip so far. Acceptable.

Acceptable considering I'm now just 4,000 points away from Pearl and free parking (eyeroll).

Onward!