smoothgrh's Blog

Play money Martingaling

I was waiting for a play-money HORSE game to start on Pokerstars, so I checked out its Classic Blackjack game (which should be called European Blackjack because there was no dealer hole card). I bet $1,000 play money. Won a hand, lost a hand, won a hand, then lost two — so I decided to Martingale.

Well, I wound up betting $165,000 before I got back to even! (I was betting rough amounts, not exactly double each time).

I will not Martingale IRL (as the kids say).

The price of poker gone up more!

I called Bay 101 last night to see if they had a $4-$8 limit Hold'em game going, and was told they got rid of it around August 2024. Their lowest limit game is $8-$16.

I called Lucky Chances, and they still offer a $3-$6 limit game and $4-$8 Omaha.

Anyone remember when the WPT went to Lucky Chances and The Travel Channel leaned in heavily to the travel factoid aspect, highlighting Colma's oddity of having more deceased people than living residents?

The price of poker is going up!

The Mrs. and I decided to swing by our local card room, which still has one $4-$8 limit Hold'em table.

The first thing I noticed is that they added a jackpot for quads beaten, which the card room host said was added about four months ago. (It was at $52,000 tonight.)

So I figured now the regular $5/hand rake would mean $5 + $1. Well, I went to the table and saw the dealer carve out $6 + $1!

On one hand, the big blind put down his $4 and won the pot: $3!

Getting tougher for low rollers! And we never did get on the table — I suspect people were sticking around trying to win the jackpot. Lots of bills pulled out of pockets!

In other low-limit news, the Mrs. said our friends went to Vegas last month and $3-$6 limit Hold'em at both South Point and Red Rock are gone. It's still available at Orleans.

Where y'at?

Garage Royal Flush!

I finally got a royal flush in my garage! OK, so it was on Hundred Play Draw Poker, but a royal flush nonetheless. I've never gotten a royal on my home machine or in a casino. Just on my Palm Pilot (actually, a Sony Clié). So yes, I'm happy with this play money accomplishment. Especially because I made myself an Old Fashioned before bedtime — a double!



Here's my mancave slot machine side table. The ashtray is my parents' Reno souvenir they got before I was born. The telephone is from my parents' home from the '70s through the '90s (it's not hooked up). The toy roulette wheel is from a childhood visit to Reno. The coin cup is from Atlantis Reno. (And I smoke cigars only with the Mrs. either outdoors or at a casino.)

Star Wars slot machines

I was looking through my oldest emails and found this one from March 28, 2005 that I wrote to my Star Wars-loving friends. I was a bit a aghast by my writing style back then: unnecessarily verbose. But it's an interesting personal historical document.

Also, it touches on one of the currently hot threads: whether some slot machine bonus rounds are gaffed!

— — — 

In attempt to woo the nerd demographic into gambling, there are now...

Star Wars video slot machines!

It's based on Episode IV (which, I don't need to tell YOU, is "A New
Hope.")

The one I was playing was a 1 cent denomination (don't know if there are
higher values) at Atlantis casino in Reno.

You may play up to 300 credits per spin, and based on how many credits
you use, it plays different themes. For instance, I was playing 3 cents
at a time (what a high roller!) and the theme was moisture farming. It
played Luke Skywalker's theme and sounds from Aunt Beru's kitchen. One
woman who sat next to me for a little while was playing all 300 credits
and she got tie fighters, x-wings and loud space battle sound effects.
If you play mid-range credits, you get Mos Eisley cantina characters.

There are two different bonus rounds. The more frequent one is getting
Darth Vader on line 1 and Obi-Wan Kenobi on line 5. Then you have pick
who will win the lightsaber battle.

My picks:
Obi-Wan: lost (Vader tells you: don't underestimate the power of the
dark side!)
Obi-Wan: lost
Obi-Wan: won
Vader: lost
Obi-Wan: won
Obi-Wan: won

When I lost, I get about 18 consolation credits. When winning, I got
75-125 credits. (The winnings are obviously more if you play more than 3
cents at a time!)

The other bonus round is if you line up three Death Stars. Then you pick
two stormtroopers to shoot and that determines which two of six arrows
on the death star light up. The Death Star spins around and awards you
based on the arrows you picked. But I'm certain it's rigged -- the
numbers are fixed on the death star, so no matter which arrows you pick,
I'm sure it can pay you an amount it wants to give you (I got 20 and 40
credits -- max is something like 500 and 500 credits).

It's pretty fun overall if you're a Star Wars fan. They did a great job
visually on the video displays and cabinet design -- it would make an
excellent home machine (sorry, California law states that all home-owned
slot machines must be at least 25 years old). The sound is excellent.
(There are two pages of credits to John Williams for all the songs and
music). In fact, whenever you "spin," the music plays and fades out, and
if you spin again quickly, the volume comes back up again where the
music left off, so it creates a "keep playing and you'll hear the
complete stanza of the song" psychological effect!

Apparently, the designer also worked on the Star Wars: Episode I pinball
machine (bad movie, but good pinball).
http://www.starwars.com/gaming/other/misc/news20040610.html

So my highlight: I lined up four Luke Skywalkers and won $1.50! Hey,
that's a 50-1 return on my money! (Although when I played "Twilight
Zone" slots I got five Rod Serlings and won $10 on my 3 cent bet!)
Overall I finished ahead 2 cents -- an hour's worth of entertainment and
I was a winner! (OK, that could be debated!)