This blog suggestion was sent to me by a friend, “Al.” It happened at a casino somewhere in the Mid-West. I honestly don’t know where exactly.
Al was playing video poker near a bank of Quick Quad machines that weren’t very popular. Possibly players knew how to play the machines and avoided them because they had lousy pay schedules, or maybe they just didn’t know how to play. I don’t know. I haven’t seen them. (If you’re in the latter boat, you can get a free copy of “Quick Guide to Quick Quads” on www.videopoker.com.”)
A player came up and decided to play quarter Ten Play, Double Double Bonus Quick Quads. Since Quick Quads is a 6-coins-per-line game, this was a $15 bet each deal.
Al didn’t pay much attention to him as both players were quietly playing their own game. At one point, however, the Quick Quads player was dealt 22259. He held the deuces, of course. One of the hands turned into 22266, another into 222AA, and another into 22227. The other seven didn’t improve.
I’m not sure of the pay schedule, but 22266 probably paid 45 coins. 222AA might look like a full house, but the two aces add up to 2, and that makes 222AA a Quick Quad, paying 400, and 22227, a natural 4-of-a-kind, also paid 400. The other seven hands returned 15 coins apiece. This totaled 950 coins on a 60-coin bet. A nice hit!
Except the player, I’ll call him “Bo,” wasn’t satisfied. He believed 222AA should be counted as “four deuces with a kicker,” which paid 1,000 coins in this game rather than 400. He started making a lot of noise about the machine cheating* him and demanded the slot supervisor come and fix this injustice!
Al walked over to see what the fuss was about. Al has played enough Quick Quads that he knew 222AA was an ordinary Quick Quad and Bo had been paid the correct amount. He knew 2222A was deuces with a kicker (worth 1,000 coins) and 222AA was a Quick Quad (worth 400).
Al debated whether he should get involved. Before I tell you what Al did, what would you do in this kind of situation?
Al didn’t know Bo and had no reason to believe that Bo would be mollified if this stranger told him he had been paid correctly. He also figured that just explaining the intricacies of Quick Quicks could identify himself to the casino as a knowledgeable player. Al had previously played there “under the radar,” so to speak, and didn’t know if the casino discriminated against strong players.
Al didn’t want to risk this, so he just kept quiet as Bo ranted to everybody who would listen — including several casino employees. The slot shift manager wasn’t familiar with Quick Quads, so he deferred to one of his floor people who was also a player. This floor person was adamant that Bo had been paid correctly — and said so.
Bo swore he would call the Gaming Commission — and the casino employees said, “Go ahead!” Both the player and one of the casino employees took a picture of the screen so there would be no dispute about what actually happened, and the casino employees all went away.
Bo kept muttering. He glanced over at Al, presumably wanting support, and Al just shrugged and said nothing.
I, for one, think Al handled himself perfectly — for all the right reasons.
And, for that matter, Bo was correct in finding out for sure whether he had been mis-paid or not. IGT machines almost always pay out correctly — but mistakes happen. If he wasn’t convinced that the machine paid correctly, he should definitely take it to the Gaming Commission. In this case, he deserved to lose, because he was paid correctly, but if Bo wasn’t positive that that would be the end result, taking it to Gaming makes a lot of sense.
*(Author’s note: In my original draft, instead of using the phrase “the machine cheating him,” I wrote “the machine gypping him.” To me the phrases were equivalent. I was informed by my editor that the term “gypping” is offensive to certain people. I was told it originated as a stereotypical derogatory phrase about gypsies.
It sounds like that’s a likely origin to the term. I grew up with the phrase and hadn’t really thought about its origin. While being “politically correct” is not one of the major things I worry about, I’ll stop using the term. I can still communicate effectively without it.)
Either 222AA is a Quick Quads or a Full House… there’s absolutely no way anyone playing this game should think it’s 4 Deuces w/a Kicker. Guy was probably trying to scam the casino and thinking if he threw around “gaming commission” they would relent and pay him since it was only $500.
As to how I would react, I would not get involved either unless I really knew the other player and at that point I’d be telling him the machine paid correctly. Otherwise, I’m going to pretend I wasn’t paying attention.
Exactly. Even without any consideration of wanting to make yourself known to the casino, there’s zero circumstances where I get involved with an angry stranger and make him angrier by telling him he’s wrong. He’s not listening to the casino; he’s going to listen to some stranger tell him he’s wrong and all of a sudden calm down? Not likely.
A similar type thing happens in Extra Draw Frenzy. It explicitly says in the rules that you get the frenzy hands ONLY when dealt 3 of a kind. I see many players complain that they got no frenzy hands when dealt a full house or even dealt quads. They seem to think that because these dealt hands contain 3 of a kind, that they’re entitled to the frenzy hands.
I would never engage in a dispute at a casino were I not seated at the bank involved. No matter the circumstances, that’s being far too much a “butt-in-ski” and begs the adage, “no good deed ….”.
Were I seated next to the player (or perhaps near), I might have ventured a softly phrased, “no, both Aces are ‘consumed’ to form the 4th deuce for the quad”. If the player wasn’t receptive to that input, I’d steer clear of anything further.
Once a casino rep shows up, I’ll never engage in the situation if the facts aren’t in the player’s favor. I don’t need to risk forming a hostile relationship with anyone in the casino. However, if the player is in the right and receives resistance, I’ll judiciously speak up in support (as I might hope someone would, were I the player involved).
I know what I would do but I’m a bit of a wolf amongst the casino sheep. I’d ask him “what is your kicker if you have 4 deuces?”
I’ve always thought it would be spelled “gipping” with an “i” instead of a “y”. But I’d have been eliminated from the spelling bee first round. “Gip” and so forth is an informal variant of “Gyp.” However, used with a lower case “g”, gypping does refer to cheating, swindling, etc., e.g. “gyp joint” “Gypsy” spelled with an upper case “Y” describes the background of Gypsies, “one of a nomadic Caucasoid people originating from the border region between Iran and India to Europe in the 14th or 15th century…” and more historic info. No mention of it being used in slanderous fashion in my “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language”, but my edition is 1971. No doubt later editions are more “woke”. than mine. LOL. Clearly your editor has a sharp eye for things like that.
Grew up with the term also but I guess I better stop saying “what a gyp!”.
That’s $250 we are talking about!
Seriously sir, go get a job!
If you feel cheated out of the game, don’t play such a different variation of a simple video poker game!
Glad you are open to learning and leaving the unintentional racist language behind. Too many folks think their ignorance of the origination of the term, or the fact that they intended no offense excuses them. It doesn’t.
I wouldn’t have said nothing.
The guys either stupid or a crook.
now I got a grasp what quick quads is all about. Never understood how quads can come quicker if it’s random. Now I got at least a little bit of information. Seems to me that A-A replaces any other needed pair card. Is that what it’s all about?
And besides, positioning himself in a dispute on one side of the other of the contestants is never a good idea and in the long run results in hostility towards the person you are positioning against.
From Switzerland
Boris
Boris, AA ONLY adds up to 2. So 222AA = four 2’s in quick quads when you bet the 6th credit. For 333xx, you need the other two cards to be 2,A. For 444xx, you need either 3,A or 2,2, and so on for other quads up to 10,10,10,xx
Hi Larry, thank you for that info. So and if I have for instance 7-7-7-xx, there are many ways to get quad 7s? But it must be with A, 2, or A,3 or A4, or A5 or A6, or 22? is that it? always an A and the smallest card that is available?
No. The remaining two cards must add up to the number that the 3 of a kind is. For 7’s, the combos would be A,6; 2,5; and 3,4. 8’s would be A,7; 2,5; 3,4; and 4,4. So 88844 would be Quick Quads and not a full house, but ONLY when the 6th credit is bet.
ah now I got it. thank you Larry. So the 2 cards besides trips must add the number of the card . Therefore it’s not possible to get 4 aces without all the 4 aces, right? and same 2-2-2-AA would be considered as 4 deuces, correct?
Thank you for explaining. I never knew exactly what quick quad is all about. Now I know. However, betting that extra coin, is it worth it? Not so sure…..
Best regards from Switzerland
Boris
i always thought that word was spelled JIPPING. and, that being the case, i wouldn’t think it had any connection with gypsies.
Thanks for the information, I had grown up calling it ‘jipping’, not even making the connection to Gypsies.
And I meant to type “upper case G” instead of Y…as in Gypsies. My mistake.
To me a gip was just a word meaning rip-off, having no association with any group of humans. No clue it could be pejorative. Actually an interesting subject, if one cares to delve into it, as I did today.
Cher’s first solo hit (after Sonny), “Gypseys, Tramps and Thieves” (alternate spelling), and perhaps an old movie or two, no doubt framed my notion of the Romani ethnic group(s), which is regrettable. Thanks, BoscoJJones, for the pointer to better information.