Tuesday, August 16, 2005

All About The Benjamins

Eddie and I stopped this evening at the Railroad Pass Casino in Henderson, NV. We were just outside of Las Vegas and figured this was a good place to stay for the night. We went inside for a few minutes to pee and brush our fangs but didn't plan on hanging around too long.

I am not much of a gambler. I hate to waste money on that kind of thing and can walk through the casino the same way I would walk through the winners circle at a NASCAR event...without even stopping to look. I really have no interest in either. Now Eddie..Eddie is another story. He likes to stop at the Blackjack table and play "just $20"...which usually translates into $100 plus.

Tonight we decided just to play the slot machines. I like to play the $1 slots cause the payoff is so much greater when you DO win. Eddie started me off with a $20 and in 7 minutes, it was gone. With such a quick loss, I was ready to call it a night. Since Ed was still playing, he gave me another $20 to keep me busy until he finished. I sat down at a nearby machine and started playing, promising that I'd be done for the night once my $20 was gone. Before I knew, I was up to $220 in winnings. I couldn't stop now, right? So I put my $200 aside and continued to play with the original $20.

I like to play the maximum number of coins because I know I'd kick myself in the ass if I won big and only put in $1 instead of $3. Because it was hard to see $3 at a clip just disappear, I alternated between playing $2 and $3 at a time. And I kept winning! $60 here, $120 there, $30 here, another $60. I was on one of those machines where the wheels stop spinning and then the diamond logo clicks back one notch to land on the payline. I love that. It's my favorite kind of machine. You think you're not going to win anything and then it clicks up or down and you're a winner once again. Coins clanging everywhere!

I was down to my last few coins thinking to myself "Well, at least I am leaving with $200 more than I sat down with" when I saw the symbols lining up. As the wheels stopped turning I saw one double diamond stop, then a second double diamond stop and then the third double diamond stop. The machine didn't make any noise at all. I saw the lights on the top of the machine blinking and I looked over to the digital display and saw the numbers 2 5 0 0. I was confused. Did I win? Where are my clanking dollars? I turned around and calmly said to Ed, "Baby, can you come over here for a minute?"

He walked over, looked at the machine and then looked at me. "Baby, you won!" he said. I had just won TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!

The manager came over, did his thing and then walked away for a while before coming back with my parting gifts and cashola. He brought me a t-shirt, a socket wrench set (???) and a pretty wad of bills. He placed the $100 bills in my palm, one at a time, making me feel as if I were on Price Is Right. As I watched Ben Franklin's face being placed into my hand one by one, all I could think of was...It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG, you are so lucky.
Greggie

Darcy said...

Not sure how I missed this post but....THESE THINGS DO HAPPEN! :-D You lucky girl, you. Congratulations

Anonymous said...

Congrats Salena - that's awesome!
Shawna

Anonymous said...

Yeah but will you share? Nice going there!

Grace