Incredible Two-Day Run in Black Hawk CO

Hi all,

So I registered for this forum because I felt like I just had to tell someone about the amazing two-day run I had up at the Ameristar and Lodge casinos in Black Hawk, Colorado this week. I go up to Black Hawk, which is about an hour from my home, about once a month to play slots, video poker, and some live poker. I also go to Vegas about 2-3 times a year if I can manage it to do the same thing. I became sort of addicted to the Game of Thrones and Walking Dead (New version) slots when I was out in Vegas last month. I had great success on Game of Thrones at the Venetian, but I feel like you really can't win much more than $200-$300 on a single spin unless you hit one of the higher progressive jackpots. I just discovered the new Walking Dead machine at TI when I was in Vegas. Seems like an incredibly streaky machine, but you can win some serious money on a regular line hit. I hit for around $1200 in a free spin bonus while I was out there.

My video poker game of choice is 10-play Triple Double Bonus Extra Draw Frenzy. I think this is a really fun game where you're awarded around 15-18 extra hands when you're dealt three of a kind. I've never seen anyone else play it myself, but I've had some great success on it and it's fun when you're dealt three Aces, 2, 3, or 4 since you can win some pretty good money on those when you hit four of a kind. I play nickels, so we're not talking crazy money here, but I've had two hand-pay $1500-ish jackpots playing this game in the last year or so when I was dealt four Aces.

Anyway, I drove up to Black Hawk at around 8:00 PM on Monday night and sat down with $100 at one of the poker machines with Extra Draw Frenzy. About 15 minutes in, I was dealt four 2's and hit a few kickers. Not a bad start with about a $440 hit:



I cashed that out and moved to a neighboring machine. I played that for about 30 minutes before being dealt four Aces with a kicker. I play these games pretty fast, hitting the deal button quickly to get through hands. At first I was afraid that I had hit the deal button accidentally and threw all the cards away, but the game automatically holds all the cards and awards the jackpot when you have the best possible hand. There's another $2000:




I also played a lot of Game of Thrones on this trip but had absolutely miserable luck. I think in about 5-6 hours of play total at $3 or $5, I managed about four bonuses and never won more than about $80 in any given bonus. I had one line hit for $75 but otherwise lost probably around $800 on this machine. I was way more liberal with the money than I would normally since I had won $2400 previously.

Despite the fact that the Ameristar website lists the Walking Dead as one of their newest slots on their website, I wasn't able to find a machine there, so I walked across the street to the Lodge late that night to see if they had one. Their casino is on three different floors and I got a little turned around and ended up on the third floor accidentally. I was about to leave after I searched the first two levels and didn't see one, but lo and behold, they had one machine tucked in the back.

I sat down and promptly dropped almost $300. As I said, this machine is incredibly streaky. I rarely even got two bonus symbols much less three. The Michonne attack and Wild Horde features are so incredibly rare too, even when the machine is running hot. I might've seen one Wild Horde in my whole session to that point and I think I won like $25 or something. I was betting $3/spin and was down to $2.96 when I finally got a Michonne Attack. She brought along her walkers too which changes more symbols. I happened to have a x6 in the final line and that resulted in this hit:



$1400+ and a hand pay. Very nice! I staggered back to the Ameristar to go to bed at about 2:30 AM.

Next day, I played a little more video poker and Game of Thrones at Ameristar without any success. I then headed back over the Lodge to play more Walking Dead. I was generally having great success. Getting lots of free games and Jackpot bonuses, but no major line hits. Then, I got this line hit:



It brought me up from $160 to $790. I kept playing for a long time, still getting lots of Jackpot bonuses, but I was always hitting the Mini. I hit the Mini for like $10.03 once (it resets to $10 each time it hits) because I had just won it like three spins earlier. There was a huge Buffalo Run machine next to me and I started letting the lady sitting there choose the "floating heads" for me to see if she'd have better luck. She said she had won the major x3 last month for something like $1400. Alas, she kept getting me Minis too.

So anyway, I was up to over $1200 thanks to a lot of bonuses and decent line hits when the unthinkable happened. I got another Jackpot bonus and went about quickly choosing the heads like I always do. I don't put a lot of thought into it. Boom! Grand jackpot x2! The Grand jackpot was at $2700+ at the time. I couldn't believe my eyes. $5498.50! You can see a quick glance of the three Grand tiles below before it switched to free games. I couldn't get out my phone fast enough.



I didn't win much in the free games, but got another jackpot. This one for $5496.66. And I was already at over $1200 (up roughly $900) in the machine!



I cashed out about 30 minutes later because I really needed to use the restroom and someone quickly jumped over and took the machine. They were only playing 75 cents per spin but had won about $140 before they went on a losing streak and lost most of it. Even though I hit the jackpot and figured it would probably not pay out again for a very long time, I decided to play some more. Once again, after a slow start, I had turned my $200 into around $664 by getting a lot of jackpot free game bonuses and generally having amazing luck. And then, out of the blue, I get a Wild Horde. It gets to the point that you don't even think about them because they seem to happen so rarely. The Horde turns columns 1, 3, and 5 into wilds with the last one being a x4. Usually it only turns one or two columns into wilds so I was just hoping for some symbols to line up. Sure enough, to big strips of Michonne in the non-wild columns. I'm thinking that this is another hand pay but didn't know how much it would be. The counter finally stops at $3855.70 and I'm basically in shock.



Picked up over $13k (mostly on a single machine) in two nights. After having them take out the taxes and losses from donking away too much on Game of Thrones and other poker machines, I came home with around $10,500. Not too bad!

Nice hits. 2 non ap people on forum todsy posting about 10k hits. Hopefully it's my turn this weekend.

Welcome to the forum. Nice hits!

Congrats on the big hits. Now, the bad news: this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to you. You're playing 96% video poker and slots that return about 90%. Those rare big hits have to be paid for with a LOT of losers. It figures to be your turn next to be on the wrong side of the bell curve. With the amounts you bet per spin/hand, you could lose several thousand in an evening. Will you stop playing if you lose back $3000 of your winnings? $5000? $9000?

The terrible truth is that you'll remember all those big hits and dump back your winnings and more besides. The net effect for you--and all but a tiny fraction of temporary big winners--is that you'll wind up actually worse off than if you had never scored those big hits at all.

Of course, you could prove me wrong by converting that win into something that can't be stuck back into a slot machine, like a nice used car. I would love to see that, actually.

Quote: Joeshlabotnik

... the bad news: this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to you

Buzzkill!

Yet many of us here at this site do feel the need to say something. Why would this be? Because the members here are 'not about' playing games that can make a sucker out of you. Partially, the site is about education. That can mean buzzkill LOL.

This is just not the site to come to in order to celebrate wins on slot machines or VP games with relatively poor return. That's just a fact. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome, but if you don't have a thick skin, you'll suffer from some of the comments. Try to learn something, it's a good place for that.

Congratulations on your lucky streak!

Quote: odiousgambit

Buzzkill!

Yet many of us here at this site do feel the need to say something. Why would this be? Because the members here are 'not about' playing games that can make a sucker out of you. Partially, the site is about education. That can mean buzzkill LOL.

This is just not the site to come to in order to celebrate wins on slot machines or VP games with relatively poor return. That's just a fact. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome, but if you don't have a thick skin, you'll suffer from some of the comments. Try to learn something, it's a good place for that.

Congratulations on your lucky streak!

Hey, I play about 50% slots, and Mrs 100% slots, and it's okay to read us "The Buzzkill Act". I have always felt that the main purpose of Michael Shackleford's Wizard persona isn't about advantage play. It is about playing with your eyes open. Slot players need to know how much bucking of the odds it takes to win.

We spent a day at Harrah's AC this week. I won $5 on a bankroll of $400, Mrs broke even on a bankroll of $200. At one point I was up about $150, mostly due to Mississippi Stud, at one point Mrs was up almost $800 on slots. We both quit when we were at the point of not giving anything back; we took the fun of playing as our payoff.

"Dear lord, please help me break even, because I really need the money." Or something like that.

Quote: Joeshlabotnik

Congrats on the big hits. Now, the bad news: this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to you. You're playing 96% video poker and slots that return about 90%. .

No comments on anyone's playing decisions, but I would be Shocked if the slot in question returned 90%. I assume these licensed slots in huge cabinets are 85% at best.

Quote: tjmaxwell

Hi all,

So I registered for this forum because I felt like I just had to tell someone about the amazing two-day run I had . . .
Picked up over $13k (mostly on a single machine) in two nights. After having them take out the taxes and losses from donking away too much on Game of Thrones and other poker machines, I came home with around $10,500. Not too bad!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your big winning session. My first post here was also about my initial big winning session.

Now. You've received a fair and friendly warning and I'd like to reiterate that. Your luck was massively unlikely and it is not a precedent for more good luck to come. Don't be fooled into a false sense of invincibility.

Take your huge profit and lock some of it down as a car or home extension or something tangible. EXPECT to trickle back the remainder of your profit either slowly or quickly. Concentrate on keeping hold of your profit and squeeze the maximum value and longevity from it. Maybe use it as bankroll to go after some genuine Advantage Plays.

Really, REALLY consider never playing those high house edge slots again. As you were advised, this big winning session could be the worst thing that will ever happen to you. Only you can grasp it as a true opportunity.

Take care.

Good reporting and great pictures! Welcome to the forums!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose I'm not an ideal candidate for this forum. I'm certainly a recreational gambler. I play the games to have fun and realize that these fancy licensed slots are probably the worst for returns. Trust me, I've been on the losing end in the past. This isn't an avenue for me to make money, I just go to casinos every now and then and play for fun. I would never turn up the next day and drop more than a couple hundred bucks thinking that these kinds of wins are "the norm" or anything like that. I was just really excited about my luck and thought I'd share in case anyone found it interesting. My mistake for not reading more about what this site is all about before posting. Best of luck guys!

Quote: Mosca

Slot players need to know how much bucking of the odds it takes to win.

It seems to me a slot player is usually a flat bettor? If I am right about that, it ought to be pretty easy to figure out the EV per hour of your play. If that works out to be $x per day, and you can say to yourself it gives you adequate entertainment value for the price, then there's nothing anybody should say.

tj,

I think your post is GREAT! I'm not sure I have seen the video poker and slot machines you played, but (shhh, don't tell anyone!) I sometimes play a slot machine that looks like it might be fun, even if my chances of winning are less than at some of the table games.

And, the story you shared was very well written, and (for me) riveting. I know it took a reasonable amount of your time to put it all together as you did, and I appreciate it. Hopefully, you will share your future adventures with us.

Good luck!

Quote: tjmaxwell

Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose I'm not an ideal candidate for this forum. I'm certainly a recreational gambler.. . .
I was just really excited about my luck and thought I'd share in case anyone found it interesting.
My mistake for not reading more about what this site is all about before posting. Best of luck guys!

Aw don't be like that, dude.

No-one here meant to make you feel unwelcome. There's nothing wrong with recreational gambling, which many of us enjoy, even slots.

Any new member, especially one who seems to be at risk of taking an ass-kicking from unfair games, will be cared about and offered advice. There's no obligation to appreciate or to take it.

Once again, congratulations on your win and thanks for sharing the report with us grumpy old curmudgeons.

Quote: tjmaxwell

Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose I'm not an ideal candidate for this forum. I'm certainly a recreational gambler. I play the games to have fun and realize that these fancy licensed slots are probably the worst for returns. Trust me, I've been on the losing end in the past. This isn't an avenue for me to make money, I just go to casinos every now and then and play for fun. I would never turn up the next day and drop more than a couple hundred bucks thinking that these kinds of wins are "the norm" or anything like that. I was just really excited about my luck and thought I'd share in case anyone found it interesting. My mistake for not reading more about what this site is all about before posting. Best of luck guys!

There are plenty of members here who are just recreational gamblers. I, for one, enjoyed reading about your success!

Quote: odiousgambit

It seems to me a slot player is usually a flat bettor? If I am right about that, it ought to be pretty easy to figure out the EV per hour of your play. If that works out to be $x per day, and you can say to yourself it gives you adequate entertainment value for the price, then there's nothing anybody should say.

Myself, I'm sort of a flat bettor. If a top play is $5, like for example a penny Cashman game, I'll play at the $2.50 level, unless 1) I get a nice hit. Maybe I'll buy in for $100, and get up to $170. I'll play that $70 off at $5. Or, 2) I'm not getting any random Cashman bonuses, so I'll hit the button at $5 for a few spins, to see if I can luck into one. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't, but these are slots, and slots are all about the mind game you play with them. The worst part is getting the random bonus at $5, and the little guy comes out and respins all the reels for no win @ 10x pay. Whoopie, $3.

Quote: tjmaxwell

Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose I'm not an ideal candidate for this forum. I'm certainly a recreational gambler. I play the games to have fun and realize that these fancy licensed slots are probably the worst for returns. Trust me, I've been on the losing end in the past. This isn't an avenue for me to make money, I just go to casinos every now and then and play for fun. I would never turn up the next day and drop more than a couple hundred bucks thinking that these kinds of wins are "the norm" or anything like that. I was just really excited about my luck and thought I'd share in case anyone found it interesting. My mistake for not reading more about what this site is all about before posting. Best of luck guys!

Why would you think you're not an ideal candidate for this forum? It's written primarily for recreational gamblers, to help them get the most out of their gambling dollar. Presumably, you. And me, fwiw. And many other regulars.

Guys discuss things here, with an emphasis on the math. There's a mix of pro gamblers, designers, industry people, mathematicians, and engineers, as well as rec players. So some folks are going to tell you slots are not your best advantage. Figures, right?

Enjoy your wins. Thanks for sharing. Hope you decide to read some more and participate.

Quote: OnceDear

No-one here meant to make you feel unwelcome. There's nothing wrong with recreational gambling, which many of us enjoy, even slots.

Any new member, especially one who seems to be at risk of taking an ass-kicking from unfair games, will be cared about and offered advice. There's no obligation to appreciate or to take it.

Well said, and Welcome to TJMaxwell.

WHat a great win in only two days. Congrats. I just had 8 day winning streak blackjack 500,2600,400,3300,600,1500,700,3100
On the last day i was so tired and sat at Bombay slot machine just to relax and hit 3000. I will post a picture here of my jackpot

Nice Hit!!!

Welcome to the forum, TJMax.

Congrats on your big win. I live about an hour from Blackhawk as well but couldn't do what you did. I won't go into the Amerisat because they're probably the worst casino for comps and drinks that I've ever seen. While I was on the BJ table she came by once in two hours. I prefer the Lodge and Fitzgerads before they went OOB.

I love how the Ameristar has that soda and coffee station. I don't know how you couldn't like that place, it is a beautiful resort.

Quote: tony2222

WHat a great win in only two days. Congrats. I just had 8 day winning streak blackjack 500,2600,400,3300,600,1500,700,3100

I can't be the only person who read this as "I won five hundred septllion, twenty six hundred sextillion..."

You are right of course except it was in craps, a dice controller.