Page 12 - Jackpot Magazine Tunica ~ June, 2024

PLAY TO WIN
A winning story about video poker with dad
“Happy Fathers Day, Dad! I wouldn’t trade you for anything. Of course, nobody’s offered me anything.”
— Melanie White, writer
Last month, we shared some casino tips that could only come from a mom. Mother’s Day was in May, after all. Now that we are in June, let’s celebrate fathers, especially those who enjoy their casino time.
Gaming expert Henry Tamburin, author of Blackjack: Take The Money and Run, shared stories about his father-in-law in several columns he wrote for Jackpot! His father-in-law Pete, 91 at the time, was a slot player who Tamburin taught video poker on his computer.
Pete started playing video poker in the casino when he was about 86 years old, proving there is no age limit to learning new things and having new
their comped lunch. Pete
was still playing the same
machine and Tamburin,
noticing Pete had more
than 4,000 coins on his
credit meter, assumed he had hit a royal flush (in Jacks-or-Better, you win $1,000 if you get a royal flush with max coins wagered). Before Tamburin could finish congratulating him on hitting the royal, Pete interrupted and started telling the story of what happened.
In Pete’s words: “I was playing the machine when all of a sudden the screen turned completely blue. I didn’t know what happened or why and I was confused as to how to get back to the game I was just playing. There was a woman playing next to me so I asked for help. She leaned over, hit a few buttons like she knew what she was doing, and the game came back on the screen. I thanked
(who had left the area by now) had inadvertently put the Triple Double Bonus game on Pete’s machine rather than the
more straight-forward Jacks-or-Better game that he was playing prior to his machine going haywire.
Pete didn’t remember what the fifth card was along with the four aces, but it must have been either the deuce, three or four. That means, he held a pair of aces and drew exactly the three cards he needed to win the $1,000 payout on the Triple Double Bonus video poker game that he was playing — two more aces and either the 2, 3 or 4 kicker. The odds of drawing these exact three cards to hit the $1,000 payout are pretty long, but to do it while he was unknowingly playing the wrong video poker game is mind-boggling.
Tamburin said his father-in-law was very fortunate and also very lucky. Instead of winning $31.25, which is what he would have won had he gotten the four aces on the game he should have been playing, Pete wound up winning $1,000 instead. That’s a big turnaround in dollars and cents.
But what if the reverse had happened, Tamburin wondered? Suppose Pete was playing the Triple Double Bonus machine when it went haywire and a helpful player switched the game to 9/6 Jacks-or-Better? Pete would have felt sick in this scenario because he would have won only $31.25 instead of the grand. And complaining to casino management about it would have fallen on deaf ears — it is the player’s responsibility to know what game they are playing.
There is a lesson to be learned and it is this: If something unexpected happens to your machine while you are playing it is best to get help from a casino employee rather than rely on a fellow player. Oh, and Happy Father’s Day to all our dads.
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experiences. Tamburin said loved playing video poker because he felt it kept his mind sharp. The author shared one specific video poker adventure with Pete that occurred in a Biloxi casino.
P e t e
h e r
and started playing again.
“I was dealt a pair of aces and three small cards so I held the aces and drew three new cards. I was elated when two more aces appeared on the screen giving me four aces. The credit meter started advancing to record my 125-coin payout. But the damn thing never
stopped.
“It just kept giving me more and more
As the story went,
Tamburin and Pete made
one of their usual biweekly
trips to Biloxi. Tamburin got Pete settled on a quarter denomination machine that had the 9/6 Jacks-or-Better schedule. He made sure that the reader for the players club card was functioning properly and that Pete had his strategy card handy. Tamburin waited until Pete loaded his bills into the bill acceptor and after they all registered properly in the credit meter and he had played a few hands, Tamburin left to play blackjack.
Fast-forward a few minutes. Tamburin was getting hungry so he stopped playing and went to get Pete so they could eat
credits. I didn’t know what the hell was going on and I honestly thought the machine had broken. When the credit meter finally stopped spinning it registered over 4,000 coins (that’s over $1,000).”
Tamburin knew something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it until he glanced up at the screen. Yikes! Pete wasn’t playing a Jacks-or-Better game. The game he was playing was Triple Double Bonus, which pays a bonus $1,000 if you have four aces and either a deuce, three or four kicker. It turns out that the helpful woman
12 JACKPOT! MAGAZINE June 2024
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