Big Casino Wins and Jackpots

[Alan Mendelson]

That is an amazing win. I couldn’t even phantom playing video poker at $125.00 dollars per spin. I’m not a gambling math guru, but what is the expected bankroll needed to overcome 40,000 to 1 odds on a game at these denominations?

Alan, do you play video poker at these denominations often? I noticed you had another 100k win in the past. What would be even better is that you hit this with their settlement free play money for your injured hand (if there was one) and the wounded hand all bandaged up was the one pressing the buttons.

Only TWICE I played at this denomination for any "real amount" of time and miraculously both times I hit a royal. However, this is my favorite machine at Caesars and I would estimate that I have played hundreds of thousands of hands on this machine at the $5 level.

When I say "real amount" there were a few hands -- perhaps no more than 10 -- I played on this machine when I had some free play on certain trips. Most of the time I am a $5 player at Caesars, and sometimes I play only $1 if I am there to play craps.

The first royal came in October of last year with only $1,000 in the machine -- and I hit quad queens on the last play and then continued to play hitting more quads and then the royal. It was one heck of a lucky streak.

This time, keep in mind that I had already won at craps and had built up some wins at the $5 level when I decided to switch to the $25 level. And then at the $25 level I hit some quads which kept me playing.

To answer your question about bankroll: I've heard that you need twice the value of the royal in order to play at that denomination. Frankly, I can't imagine anyone with $200,000 sitting down at a $25 machine seriously with the idea of long-term play in an attempt to hit a royal. Whenever I've been at Caesars the players I've seen have a bankroll of about $2,000 to maybe as high as $5,000 and if they don't get lucky they walk away.

While I was there, a young man had a small bankroll and started at $5 as I did, hit some hand pay and then switch to $25 and while playing Triple Double Bonus he got quad aces -- of course he was cursing the machine for not giving him a kicker. While waiting for that handpay he put money in the machine next to him and got quad queens, and then went to yet a third machine and got another quad but it was on the other side of the row of machines and I couldn't see what he got. People get lucky.

Edited to add: See post #1639 from Oct 3, 2015 for my original report on how I hit the first $100K royal.