Pointies Pointies!

I slept in till 9:00 Saturday morning. That's noon at home. Oh well. I didn't have much to do today except check my D Keno ticket, eat, and try not to lose much money.

Day 8 - Saturday Aug 30, 2025 

The trip was as good as over. Speaking of which, when I thought I couldn't hate the Rio more, I almost tripped and/or twisted an ankle stepping into a hole in the floor.

It doesn't look like it but that hole is 3-4" deep - deep enough to accomodate an outlet and some wiring.

I quickly realized there was no way to complain to a person at the hotel, given what happened with the useless lying Rita AI bot. I thought maybe I'd get a survey later that I could respond to and blast 'em that way.

I'd hit about four 4 out of 5s on my Keno ticket, but no 5 out of 5s. It would have some money on it, but was a loser. Kind of like me, I guess. I'll just keep the ticket for next time.

It's been so ridiculously hard to find enough wins to stay above water this trip. I've had a few good ones in the last while, so I suppose it had to catch up with me.

There were a few moments where I thought about seeing if I could change my flight home to an earlier one - mentally, my trip was done. It was going to be a bag over the head swift kick in the pills no matter what I did now. I was just putting in time.

I did my blogging - it looked nice outside, if roasting hot - and swallowed a punishment RX bar for breakfast.

Around noon, I had cobbled together a plan. It was simple. Eat lunch at the Kung Fu, just a couple of blocks north of the Rio, and try to put together a decent session at the Gold Coast on the triple play machine I'd got a Royal on last time I stayed at the Rio.

The Kung Fu super value fly-in-a-circle one wing lunch special runs Monday through Friday only. No matter, I'd be happy to wolf down a full entree-sized portion of the Panang curry chicken.

Does anyone have June's number?

Lunch was delicious, and I demolished it all except for a few million grains of rice.

Next stop, the Gold Coast.

I spotted an ancient White Orchid game on the way in and played out $20 in it. Then I turned to the Triple Play machine - quarter Bonus Poker.

After burning through $80, I put in another hundred and realized it was just dumb to play Bonus Poker at this point. If I wanted any chance at making a dent in my losses it had to be Double Double Bonus with all the premium hands, along with higher volatility.

So, another hundred dollar bill went into the whining, slobbery mouth of the beast. I could hear it digesting it already.

What happened next has a couple of angles to it, or points to be made.

I finally got the kind of video poker session I've been craving this entire trip.

I ended up with 4 to a Royal about a dozen times. One royal would have made a big difference.

None of the hands that take kickers had kickers. No kickers. I am thwarted by this. Never the kicker. Kickerless, me.

The dollar difference between what I got and what I would have got if I'd got all the kickers was a difference of $800. That's $800 based on four cards.

But I've buried the lead. I went on a 3h 15m non-stop video poker bender, and it was magnificent. The only thing missing was that I did not cash out a profit.

Let's have a look:

Pointies!!! $200! No kicker, though.

Fours. No kicker, though.

POINTIES!!! $200. No kicker, though.

Dealt 7s!!! Imagine if this were dealt Pointies with kicker...

This stands in for Deuces. I got distracted and forgot the photo.

If my math is right, that's a total of 3,900 hands of video poker, played 3 at a time (900 pulls). When it was over, I'd lost $200.

But you know, I felt totally satisfied in the sense that I'd gotten some good hands, and I'd played all I wanted to. I really didn't want to play any more and in fact, called it quits for the trip. Of course, the only thing missing was to actually win money.

I drove back to the Rio (across the street) and went to the room to chill for a couple of hours, and pack. Sun was setting and I knew the trip was really over.

I left the room at 8:00 pm, dumped the rental, and was through security by 9:15 or so. My flight was scheduled for 11:35, so I had time in the United Lounge to snack and drink.

They have these really cool gelato machines in the lounge called Solato. Basically, you put an ice cream k-cup in the machine, press a button, and in one minute it curls out a sloppy gelato.

Hopefully, you are ready with a cup to corral the frozen milk treat as it extrudes from the ice cold Solato meatus.

I may not have described this in the most appetizing way.

The frozen icerement exits the beast's tract meatus here and is deposited in the patron's cup here. The operation is completely automatic and minimal wiping is required after extrusion. The patrons are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes towards the rotating knives...

The machine worked perfectly, and the gelato was delicious. It's all natural, featuring no unnatural ingredients or dairy acts.

The rest of it is travel. I got served a trough of Buffalo Trace on the first leg to Chicago, and a sticky bourbon chicken meal (not pictured, it was too dark). Really good meal.

I managed to get about half an hour sleep and we landed in Chicago before dawn. Another lounge, another feast.

There's no way I'm passing up free food.

Our sausages are United.

Next it was a 1 hour flight to Toronto and another half hour nap.

Then I boarded the Union-Pearson express and met my nephew (Divana's lad) for lunch.

My train to Flusherville left at 2:30 and Dwiggie picked me up at that station at 5:00.

I'm not sure how, but I stayed up until 10:30 pm. I really wasn't feeling all that bad considering I was running on 1 hour sleep.

When I crashed, I crashed hard and slept for 11 hours. Monday I took the day off completely, and today, Tuesday, I started to feel human again. That kind of travel rigor takes it out of you.

And with that, the Hot August Tights trip report is done.

There will be no accounting spin - this was the worst trip in terms of gambling I've ever had. That's saying something because I'm up to something like 75 trips.

I did have a really fun and engaging time in spite of the losing. It's all about friends and family and good food (notwithstanding heating a double cheeseburger in the travel kettle).

What's next for Flushiepants?

Well, I was contacted by the service dog folks. They need someone to take care of a 4 month old black lab puppy for a week or so. I said yes immediately.

Strangely, by sheer coincidence, the puppy's name is...