I expect this will be most boring to most all of you, but if you have nothing else to do at the moment, then continue.

It relates to the most successful win I’ve ever had at the slot machines.

It was at one of the Indian Casinos I visited this past week (can’t remember which one it was,–Three Rivers, I think.) In any case, my purpose was to relax after a hard days drive and just sit down to play a few hands of poker. Waiting to play after the blinds went by, I stopped at the window where one signs up for the slot cards. Being a new (enlistee,) I was given $10.00 in free play at the slots.

Now the last time I played one those machines was when one had to pull the handle, and hope to get 3 cherries, plums, oranges or bars–must have been 30+ years ago. Now I haven’t played a casino backed game since 1980 when I came in third place in the very first blackjack tournament ever held at the Sahara hotel. Sitting down on a stool and playing a slot machine is as exciting to me as watching grass grow.

So OK, I had $10.00 free play but I had to activate the machine by investing $1.00 of my own money which I hesitantly did after considerable thought. In went my dollar and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what to do next. So I called one of the attendants and offered her my $10.00 in free play for $5.00 cash. She just couldn’t understand why I wanted to do that and refused probably thought I was trying to con her. I gave the same offer to another person and again was refuted.

So I ended up playing the whole $10.00 myself. My objective was to play the largest amount possible and just get out of there to get into the poker game. Come to find out, I was on a $0.05¢ machine and the most I could play was $1.80 per pull. To make a long story longer, I pulled and pulled and pulled just trying to use up my money but I kept on hitting (something) and the wheels just kept on spinning, bells going off, and here I am just trying to end the damn thing and get out of there. With all that excitement, I was still bored as heck. Finally, I used up all my pulls. Happy and hoping I would get my original $1.00 back, I cashed out, heard all those nickels going into the tray but none came out. Then I got a ticket saying I won $90.45¢.

Now to me, this was a heck of a win and more than likely my last win as I don’t expect to play another house backed game again for another 30 + years.