Lightning Strikes Twice

Until very recently, I don't think I'd ever seen a Royal Flush.

Not in any of the hands I played with a real deck of cards.

Not in any of the casino video games I've played or any version of online poker I've tried.

I'd been fortunate enough to see the occasional Straight Flush, but never one with all five of the high cards.

So it felt almost mythological to me. Sort of like being a lottery winner - the kind of thing you know is possible, but probably won't ever happen to you.

But a couple of weeks ago, it finally happened - and it completely changed my attitude toward the Royal Flush.

Mr. Lucky Duck Indeed

Thanks to a generous ALC promo, I found myself with $20 worth of promo cash to burn through.

My goal was fairly modest: turn that fake $20 into a real $20 so I can cash it out.

I knew my best bet was Video Poker - the game where you either slowly lose your money, slowly win some money, or end up more or less breaking even.

And breaking even's what I was after, so I loaded up Bonus Poker and got to work.

It happened within the first ten minutes and it felt completely surreal.

Not only because I'd never seen a Royal Flush in the flesh before. But because I wasn't even chasing it. I'd already scored some cash (thanks to landing a few Four-of-a-Kinds in quick succession) and I was just trying to keep it rolling. So when I held a few Spades it was in the hopes of getting a bog standard Flush - and if there happened to be a King and Queen in the mix, so be it. 

But then win kept climbing and climbing, it sunk in. The Royal Flush isn't a myth - I'd actually hit it. 

The sheer thrill of seeing it on the screen - combined with the rush of multiplying my initial ten cent bet by 800 (!) - made my mind go blank for a few seconds. My heart rate went up. I could feel a teensy dose of adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Absolutely incredible.

I'd set out to make $20, but I'd already exceeded that. And now I'd topped it off with an $80 win. 

I knew what I had to do next.

First, the responsible thing: immediately cash out that $80 so it would show up in my bank account in two to three business days.

And then the slightly less responsible thing: play some more and play a bit more boldly. 

Defying the Odds

With about $55 left in the tank, I moseyed on over to the big leagues: Ultimate X Poker 5 Play.

 

Except I didn't turn on the bonus feature, so I guess it was more like the middle leagues.

 

But still: playing five hands at a time. Still wagering only a dime on each, but at 50 cents a play, it was a bit more than I'd normally risk.

 

Things were going fairly well for me. I was on Bonus Poker again and hitting enough low Four-of-a-Kinds to make up for the lower pay on Flushes and Full Houses.

  

And then it happened again.

 

Somehow, one of the five hands I had on screen had turned over a straight row from 10 to Ace - all Clubs.

 

Another Royal Flush. 

 

Another $80 payout - plus a few extra coins for the other hands that hit something.

 

I should've taken a screenshot. But I think I was so bewildered that it didn't even occur to me. So you'll just have to picture it in your mind's eye.

 

I immediately cashed out everything I'd made on that run ($130) and looked up the stats.

 

The odds of hitting a Royal Flush in video poker is a bit worse than 1 in 40,000.

 

The odds of hitting it twice within one hour - well, I don't have a clue what it is, but it has to be extremely low. Not impossible, but damn improbable.

 

The House Always Wins (Except When I Do)

I set out with $20 of funny money and turned it into $210 of cold, hard cash. That's a good night and quite possibly the most money I've ever made in a single hour.

 

So I was riding that high for quite a while - and trying really, really hard not to think of how much money it would've been if I had wagered anything higher than 10 cents.

 

I haven't seen a Royal Flush since that night (again, 1 in 40,000 hands, so it might take a while). But hitting it twice did change the way I play.

 

It made the Royal Flush feel achievable. Still rare of course, but in my reach. So now I do chase after it - when it's reasonable.

And with any luck, I'll actually catch one again - or even two in a row because apparently that can happen.

 

Tally

Wagered This Session: $0 (promo cash only)

Profit This Session: $210

Total Profit Overall: $160.96 

 

Thanks for reading and feel free to support my nonsense.