We arrived on Thursday, September 9th at the Peppermill in Reno (Sparks) NV. The Peppermill is always very accomodating with "free" rooms, cash slot play and food comps. After checking into our rooms, my husband went to work at the Nugget for the Tailhook convention and my mom and I went to work in the casino. My mother has always been very lucky playing video poker and she keeps a royal flush diary in which she has recorded all of her royal flushes over the years. She now has 64 entries. I left her on the machines while I went and played in a poker tournament. When I returned from the tournament (for which I won chopped 4 ways) feeling very smug about my big win, I knew it would be overshadowed when I walked up to her and she started her sentence with "Chris you're not going to believe..." she had already gotten a royal flush for $1200 plus several four-of-a-kinds that added up to over $3,000.
That was day one. Day two, she decided to up the odds, being ahead she decided to play the dollar machines. She started off by getting the four aces for $800. She cashed out her ticket and came over to me and said "do you think I should play the dollar machine again". I said "put another $100 in a see what happens". As I sat one row behind her playing the quarter machines I look up to see her sitting and staring at her machine not moving. A closer look at her machine revealed she was dealt a royal flush for $4000. She was stunned and I just shook my head wishing that the video poker gene would be passed down.
She cashed out, I ran her money upstairs and locked it away in the safe. She moved back over to the quarter machines while I played poker. When I came back she said "you're not going to believe this...". That's right another royal flush! Three in two days.
She played and played and played. If I didn't insist she would not have gotten up to go the bathroom or to eat or drink. She can sit at a machine for 12 hours or more. She becomes one with the machine.
The third and final day, no royal flush, just a series of four-of-a-kinds that made her overall for the day up over another $1,000.
We left the Peppermill on Sunday morning and she was up somewhere around $9,000. An awesome display.
You may think this is the end of the story, but you would be mistaken. My husband flew home on Sunday night. On Wednesday we ventured to another casino (Indian) in CA called Redhawk. She was plus another $500 or so.
Done - NO - Thundervalley casino on Friday. Another royal!!
Sunday, I went to play in a tournament at Thundervalley and she stayed home, I won the tournament (chopped for $500). It's no royal but it's hard to do.
On Monday we take off for Cache Creek for an overnight. Check in, start playing and she begins to lose. What? She turns in early and watches "Dancing with the Stars" that night. I had had a big day playing poker and had won over $600 so I was pretty happy. Next day, she hit it hard again and again, no luck - in the morning- by afternoon she is hitting four-of-a-kinds again and making a little comeback.
We had already checked out of our room when by 5:00 pm I could tell she wanted to stay. I called the VIP host over and asked if we could be comp'd another night, which they promptly did. Check back in.
Finally on Wednesday she is doing well and making back some of the money lost the previous two days. I held my own. We went to dinner before driving home and as is our custom we played $20 more in a machine on our way out. Well she was doing well and I ran my $20 up to $50 and cashed out. I was sitting watching her play and couldn't stand it any longer so I put my ticket back in the machine and played slowly trying to wait her out. Then the unbeliveable happened. My machine locked up and I looked at it and saw that a ROYAL FLUSH WAS DEALT TO ME!!!!!!!
Thank God I really do have the video poker gene. Thank you, thank you, thank you - Mom.
She still is the all time video poker queen, there is no dispute, but I now have a little hope that the gene may be kicking in and my future is bright.
