Having played video poker for over 20 years now, I have a LOT of stories, but one of my favorites is how I hit my first
$5 ($20,000) Royal, in the early 90s.
My best friend and I had gone to Reno for an overnight “quickie”. I was
living in the San Fran Bay Area at the time, so we did these a lot. We’d leave
Friday or Saturday night, gamble all night and through the morning, grab a nap
& a meal in the room (free everything), gamble some more, then go home the
next evening.
Since I was newly married at the time, LaNae & I didn’t spend very much
time together anymore, so I played slots with her all night so we could talk as
we played. Around 8 in the morning I was up about $2-300, and as we passed the
$5 video poker macines, I said, “Oh, let me just piss this money away on these
machines before we go up to the room.”
We were at the Nugget in Sparks, and their $5 video poker machines (at the
time) were really cool. Grouped in pairs, they were huge gold
machines, with very comfortable, large, overstuffed chairs, so she could sit
& talk to me while I played.
I started out pretty weak, playing only 2 coins at a time, but the machine
was playing. I hit three or four 4 of a kinds, each time increasing my bet until
I was at the full 5 coins. But then the machine stalled, so I employed one of my
“strategies”; I cashed it out and started all over again (boy, do I love the
sound of $5 coins hitting that bucket!!).
The $5 video poker machine started hitting again, so I quickly increased my
bet to the full 5 coins again. The machine played well this time, so I was
sitting there just playing away while LaNae & I talked. I play pretty fast,
about a hand a second, and don’t pay much attention to the “near misses” that
video poker games like to put out. You know, they deal you 4 to the Royal, then
nothing with the draw?
While we’re sitting there talking, though, the machine dealt me A_K_Q_10 of
spades, and I hit the hold & draw buttons without thinking as usual….
and the machine popped the J of spades in there for the
Royal!!
LaNae & I both stopped dead, in shock, for a couple of seconds, then
started saying, “Oh. My. God!” Actually, that’s all
I could say for about 45 minutes! lol I had never really expected
it to hit a Royal.
Then the “suits” came ( the managers), about 5 of them, and a crowd circled
around while they paid me $20,000 in $100 bills – boy, was that cool! Although I
love playing video poker online, there’s nothing quite like the “suits” and the
crowd when you hit a big royal. 
I never did get my nap that day; the adrenaline rush from that hit wouldn’t
let me sleep, and all day long as I was wandering around the casino, I kept
muttering, “Oh. My. God.”.
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