Jacking Around Part 2

Day 3 Part 2 Friday Dec 22, 2023 and once again it is raining in the desert. I hope it will rain quads.

Just about every time I come to Vegas these days, at some point, it rains. It's a desert. It's not supposed to rain.

It was a quick jaunt to South Point where I thought I'd play some full pay Boner Deluxe and kill a few hours until it was time to head downtown and check in at the Cal.

I wandered around. There are so many full pay video poker machines that I can never settle on one! The weird thing is that so many of them have the exact same configuration of games and denominations.

Finally I found a slant top that didn't have horrible reflections from the overhead lights, and drilled a test hole with $20. Nuthin'.

Wandered along.

I picked another machine and little did I know how good friends I would get to be with this squeaky-buttoned beauty. Yep, some of the buttons squeaked for some reason.

Boner Deluxe was the game of choice and it wasn't long before I got an early Christmas stocking wallet-stuffer.

Boom! A dealt quad for $100. Love it.

And this started a great run on the machine. I pounded away for a full two hours, until my eyes and fingers couldn't take it any more. I've had great luck so far on this trip getting lots of playing time for my money.

Quad Jacks. $100.

Another Quad Jacks. $100.

And this is good, because the longer you play, the more hands you play. And the more hands you play, the more you have a shot at hitting a Royal.

And, and, and, my last Royal was in May 2022 on day 2 of my solo trip, and I've had the rest of that trip and three trips with the Quad Queen without one. I'm due, bitches. Cough it up!

When I simply had to get up, I was up $100.

I was super thirsty from the Pharoah's Bacony Pheast, so I found the gift and liquor store and grabbed a big, cold bottle of Diet Brownstuff. I would want some booze on hand for the room, particularly later in the trip when I would be at Wynn. I perused the shelves of liquor and to my surprise, the selection was good and the prices reasonable. South Point, I love you more and more!

The cashier asked if I wanted to use points for my Diet Brownstuff.

I don't know the South Point system at all, but I produced my card, and sho' nuff it was laden with points.

And then I was informed that because I was using points, the Diet Brownstuff would be half price. There was a promotion on.

"Really?!"

"Yes, sir, really." She ran up a bill for $1.something and used the magical points and that was that. Except...

"Can you use points for liquor?"

"Yes, you can, sir."

"And... that half price thing. That wouldn't apply, would it."

"Yes sir. It would."

Half price free liquor? Sign me up! I didn't know if I had enough points but I told her I'd see her later and maybe I'd have enough.

Back in the casino, I tried Buffffffffalo!!!! for the third time this trip, thinking that if it would pay anywhere, it would be here. Wrong. I think I'm frigging done with Buffalo Gold Collection - I never get anything anymore. Done with it, I tell ya, done!

There were some carny video Keno games I rarely see, and some weird deuces games, and I blew the profit, and a bit more - like $100 more - screwing around on them without hitting anything.

Actually, that's not exactly true.

Another Quad Jacks. $5. Stupid deuces!

After hitting four Jacks on the Loose Doose, I noticed the Double Up button. When 

else would I double up a Quad?! I went for it, the dealer pulled an Ace and I had a 3. LOSE.

Then I got into this weird compulsive double up frenzy where I'd try to double up (and lose) every time I won anything.

Eventually I doubled up another win of 20 and got it, and decided I'd almost broken even on doubling up and left the machine.

I'd spent about 3 hours or more playing at South Point and it was time to head out. Sure enough I got myself a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 for half price on points. A nice parting gift.

The I-15 was hairy as hell and the whole way all I could think about was the fact that I'd be bumping into casino staff and cocktail servers at the Cal that have known the Quad Queen and I for years. And I'd have to tell them that she'd died. I'd actually been dreading this for weeks.

I parked the car and checked in and spotted Maria, who we probably knew the best of them all. I pulled her aside and tearily blurted out what had transpired.

It was a shock for her and she gave me a huge hug. And God love her, some cocktail napkins for my blubbering.

That was one of the toughest things about this whole trip. I was glad it was done. She'll give the others the heads up and nobody will walk up to me and say, "Hi, how are you? When did you get in? Where's your wife?"

Dinner plans were in the offing - my old friends Kevin and Mrs. Kevin were treating me to Hugo's for dinner. We met through the blog and have known each other for over a decade.

It was maybe 3 and a half hours till dinner and I was a bit peckish but didn't want to ruin my appetite, so I thought I'll go to the coffee shop and get a snack.

Chicken fingers seemed a good choice, I'd eat maybe three of the probably five slender chickeny fingers they'd give me and be set. And I had a meal book, so it would be comped.

Well the chicken fingers arrived and they were more like chicken fricken' baseball mitts! Oh my God, there were three of 'em and they were huge. The one in the foreground was about the size of my cell phone.

I managed to stick to eating just one of them - they were delicious - and five or six fries. The perfect amount. I boxed up the rest and took them upstairs and put them in the fridge, but later the room smelled like chicken and I couldn't stand that sort of farty chicken smell that fried chicken can have so I had to dump them and who am I kidding, I was never going to eat them anyway when I can have hot free chicken fingers any time I bloody want, even if it was a clucking waste of chicken.

Back in the casino, I was feeling out of sorts. There are so many memories of Karen here at the California.

I did a $50 session of dollar video keno with my Keno buddy, but hit nothing. I wandered, playing a bit of this and that, going through money, and fretting about the Kevin reunion.

I sat down at the machine next to the one the Quad Queen loved to try to beat Shockwave poker on.

One of the many lovely I.S.G.s (Island Senior Girlfriends) approached the Shockwave machine. She was a lovely, silver haired, frail little 999 year old Island Auntie Queen. I pulled the heavy chair out for her and wished her luck.

Maria brought me an Ultra to sip on and I tipped her a twenty. It's Christmas. I set up some Four Card Keno to poke away at, killing time and hoping for a break. A buck a throw. Good paytable.

Boom!

Hit three 4 spots and the 5 spot for $300! Video Keno to the rescue!!! I cashed almost immediately and went back upstairs. (Alone.)

Got the room set up, got everything ready for bed, did some blogging work and whatnot, showered and changed, and soon it was time to head over to the Four Queen's.

We started with drinks in the Chicago Brewing Company. Kevin hugged me so hard he probably cracked a few ribs. I didn't mind, Kevin and Mrs. Kevin really cared about us and it hit them hard when Karen got sick with ALS.

Dinner was great, catching up on old gambling stories and having a fantastic meal. I started with escargot, and the salad truck, and had filet mignon for my main, and it was perfectly cooked.

A fine meal with fine company.

Back at the Cal, I was pretty much done. But I poured a traveler in the room, and went back down to the casino anyway. What would the Quad Queen do when there was a casino right there, I thought.

I hit four 3s on Double Double - again, no damn kicker. But it was enough to put me over the top on the day and I was savvy enough to cash out the profit and take my ass to bed, a winner on the day.

So far this trip is going well. I'm playing very differently, hopping around more when the long play streaks aren't happening, and sticking to quarters. The Keno hits are happening, and the quads are happening.

At the end of Day 3, I'm down only $140 and that's pretty good. Plus, I have $70 in freeplay in the hopper for tomorrow.

Lots more to come, let's hope I can keep it rolling.