{"id":121247,"date":"2020-09-08T09:22:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T16:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121247"},"modified":"2020-09-08T09:22:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T16:22:07","slug":"valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 I\u2019ve become very active recently in the storyteller community. I\u2019ve appeared on several national shows — all via Zoom. I\u2019ve won a few competitions, but have lost far more than I\u2019ve won.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is about a video poker promotion which happened 24 years ago. Although a story is different than a regular blog, I hope my readers will enjoy it. It describes a variant about something many of you have experienced before.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it happened some time ago, the story is intentionally written in the present tense, as that makes for more immediacy in a story. If this were written for the page, I would have used past tense.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also sure that many of you will find the actual strategy I used to be sub-optimal.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I open the door to the casino hotel suite at 8:30 in the morning on February 15, 1996 and hear, from my wife of two months, \u201cWhere the hell have you been?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm. Downstairs in high limit, where I told you I\u2019d be. Which is the main reason we\u2019re staying here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut didn\u2019t you say you\u2019d be right up to the suite?\u201d I duck as a glass ashtray shatters against the wall by my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey! Shit! We\u2019re on the same team here. I said I\u2019ll probably be right up. I didn\u2019t expect to get a seat. But since I did, and they\u2019re so valuable, I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you remember any conversation about a red negligee and some happy time together?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do. It sounded like fun. Still does. I\u2019m hoping for a raincheck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About eleven hours previously, Shirley and I are finishing up a Valentine\u2019s Day dinner at a nice restaurant within Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas. The meal is free, of course, because we are invited guests to a casino promotion. I\u2019m one of the best video poker players in the world, the casino is giving away the store, and I\u2019m here to get my share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our plan is for me to play eight hours after midnight tonight on one of the few good machines. Beg, scratch, or steal to get on a machine. It might be tough because there are so many players and so few machines — and it is worth a lot. There are more than a thousand machines in the casino, but for the knowledgeable players, there are only a few that give desirable odds. I\u2019m after one of those. And one of those only. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to check out the high limit room before I head up to the room,\u201d I told her. \u201cI don\u2019t expect any machines to be open, but maybe I can make a deal with somebody. Most likely I\u2019ll be in the room in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shirley smiles and uses a low voice when she speaks. \u201cThat\u2019s very good. Because it\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day, and I bought a new red negligee, and I guarantee you\u2019re going to enjoy taking it off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHmm. Sounds delicious! I\u2019ll probably be up in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I get to the high limit area at 10 p.m., all the seats are full, as expected. The promotion won\u2019t start until midnight, but players are there early to guarantee they would get their time in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know everybody. There are similar promotions every week and the initiated come back regularly. I say, out loud, \u201cAnybody want to give up their seat now with a guarantee they\u2019ll get it back at 8:15 in the morning? That way, you won\u2019t have to play the two hours now that don\u2019t count, and you can get a full night\u2019s sleep, and will still get a machine. Plus, I\u2019ll owe you a similar accommodation down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One guy agrees to the offer and I have a seat. I sit down and start investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At about 8:30, exhausted, I open up the hotel suite to yelling and a flying ashtray. I\u2019m utterly astonished by her reaction. I have never seen her on tilt before. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve talked about gambling promotions and their multiple permutations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shirley and I have been dating for a year and we\u2019ve had several conversations about playing in various circumstances. She knows that I believe the casinos are giving away too much. If we can just keep taking what they\u2019re giving, over and over again, we\u2019ll be millionaires within a few years. We just have to juggle everything else around when the casinos are giving so much away. I really thought she was on board with this \u201crepeat until rich\u201d process.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shirley seems to believe that since it is Valentine\u2019s Day, plus she has a new red negligee and has indicated she was warm and willing, that this should take precedence over our overall plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tTurns out we both misunderstood the other.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had it to do over again, I\u2019d do it differently. I\u2019ll still play all night, of course. Getting shut out of a juicy promotion is too big of a risk to take. What I\u2019d do differently is call Shirley and tell her what the deal is. There\u2019s a pretty good chance that when I explain we can be together on the 15th<\/sup> and I\u2019m really looking forward to that, she would have taken it a whole lot better than she did. I definitely screwed that one up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get through this and last 16 more years together. She never throws another ashtray at me, but I always alert for that and hope that if she ever does, her aim hasn\u2019t improved any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 I\u2019ve become very active recently in the storyteller community. I\u2019ve appeared on several national shows — all via Zoom. I\u2019ve won a few competitions, but have lost far more than I\u2019ve won. This story is about a video poker promotion which happened 24 years ago. Although a story is different than a regular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Valentine\u2019s Day by Bob Dancer","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nValentine\u2019s Day - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/valentines-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valentine\u2019s Day - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 I\u2019ve become very active recently in the storyteller community. I\u2019ve appeared on several national shows — all via Zoom. I\u2019ve won a few competitions, but have lost far more than I\u2019ve won. This story is about a video poker promotion which happened 24 years ago. 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