Help! Wrong Hold Cost Me A Jackpot!

I was playing $1 DDB at my normal local tribal (not affiliated with a national chain) casino tonight and was dealt a pair of threes. I naturally held the threes and pushed deal—-except one of the threes unheld! Of course the next 3 cards were 3 3 4, which should have been an $800 payout but was instead $15. I point out what happened to the night slot manager, he confirmed what had happened in the machine’s hand history and took pictures but told me the slot director had to make the call, and invited me to call the director the following morning.

I have the highest card at this casino and have played there 2-4 nights a week for about three years. Anyone have experience with something like this? Any thoughts on the best way to handle it? Any thoughts on the probability that I will get paid the $800, or perhaps something less?

You're screwed.

Video poker operators count on these mistakes all of the time to raise the house edge.

Do you think it matters that the employees know me and I am among their bigger players?

Quote: bigfoot66

I was playing $1 DDB at my normal local tribal (not affiliated with a national chain) casino tonight and was dealt a pair of threes. I naturally held the threes and pushed deal—-except one of the threes unheld! Of course the next 3 cards were 3 3 4, which should have been an $800 payout but was instead $15. I point out what happened to the night slot manager, he confirmed what had happened in the machine’s hand history and took pictures but told me the slot director had to make the call, and invited me to call the director the following morning.

I have the highest card at this casino and have played there 2-4 nights a week for about three years. Anyone have experience with something like this? Any thoughts on the best way to handle it? Any thoughts on the probability that I will get paid the $800, or perhaps something less?

I asked this question about a year ago after something similar but much less costly. Many people were in the "You are screwed" camp, but others thought I'd have been paid if I complained. In my case I think I missed out on a Wild royal on Deuces. The guy next to me saw what happened and told me to call the bartender but for about ten dollars I didn't bother.
Best of luck to you, being the highest card level certainly shouldn't hurt your chances. Obviously, you didn't intend to hold a single three.

Quote: bigfoot66

I have the highest card at this casino and have played there 2-4 nights a week for about three years.

So what? They don't want to establish any precedent that people can quibble and frustrate what the machine did to them. If you hit deal too soon and did not allow the machine to process your commands to hold certain cards, that is your fault. Tribe will want to make money, not lose it. You have any "loyalty points" in their slot club you will find "loyalty" is a slogan word, that is all.

Best of luck. I had a card unhold on me as I pressed deal once. I'm confident it was a button malfunction and not a fat fingering on my part. It was a low pair that would have turned into 3oak. I called over the slot supervisor and argued for a 3 for 1 payout that I didn't receive. He more or less laughed at me.

I can't even imagine their reaction had I been arguing for an 160 for 1 payout.

You have about a 9% chance of getting paid. On my last trip to Vegas I was dealt 4oak and threw it away by accident. These mistakes happen all the time. If they didn't then the casinos wouldn't even have vp.

Quote: FleaStiff

If you hit deal too soon and did not allow the machine to process your commands to hold certain cards, that is your fault.

Don't automatically assume user error. When this happened to me I was playing fairly slowly with one hand since I had a beer in the other. I hit the hold button for card 2, then card 4, then deal. Both holds clearly registered. The millisecond that I hit deal the 2nd card unheld. This was on a newish IGT. Couldn't reproduce it on that machine. I've never had it happen before, and never again. But I'm positive that it wasn't my error.

Quote: bigfoot66

I was playing $1 DDB at my normal local tribal (not affiliated with a national chain) casino tonight and was dealt a pair of threes. I naturally held the threes and pushed deal—-except one of the threes unheld! Of course the next 3 cards were 3 3 4, which should have been an $800 payout but was instead $15. I point out what happened to the night slot manager, he confirmed what had happened in the machine’s hand history and took pictures but told me the slot director had to make the call, and invited me to call the director the following morning.

I have the highest card at this casino and have played there 2-4 nights a week for about three years. Anyone have experience with something like this? Any thoughts on the best way to handle it? Any thoughts on the probability that I will get paid the $800, or perhaps something less?

Totally depends on the casino. Some will say “tough luck, eat s***, get lost”. Others will try not to pay you, but if you put up at least a bit of a fight and not be an a**hole, they’ll pay you....especially if you’re one of their bigger players.

I think I shared this story before, but I was playing double STP and got dealt a 2-pair on BP, got something like an 8x or 10x multiplier. I ended up holding TT96 instead of TT99, or whatever it was, and ended up losing something like $500-600 IIRC. I called a slot attendant over, he wasn’t all that thrilled and thought I was taking a shot. I asked for a supervisor, he didn’t seem likely to pay me, so I told him check the history on the machine, I’m not lying, I play here a lot, etc. He checked it, still didn’t wanna pay, I think I figured a way to say I’m 7* without sounding like a snob or whatever (this was at a CET property). Idk if it was him seeing my 7* card or he suddenly had a change of heart, but it went from, “Sorry, you have to be more careful about the buttons you push” to “Oh it’s just a simple mistake, of course we can pay you for this, but don’t do it again.” And I got paid and all was good.


This is easier said than done, but I’d let them damn well know you’re not going to be playing there anymore if they don’t pay you the extra $785, assuming of course, you’d be willing to not play there anymore.

I've had it happen a few times over the years and I was paid .They just said to be more careful.
I was a top level card holder.