Sorry for the lack of posts recently, my schedule has been pretty full of late.
One quick story, on Saturday night I was out playing Pai Gow Poker at Sunset Station (my preferred local casino hangout) and I managed to get my first ever royal flush, which pays 150-to-1 odds on the bonus. Not only that, but I was "en fuego" generally at the table, not only hitting several smaller bonuses (flushes and full houses) but also winning hands, too.
For those who don't know how Pai Gow is played, it's essentially each player against the dealer, with everybody getting 7 cards which must be divided into a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. If your 5-card beats the dealer, and your 2-card also beats the dealer, you win the hand at even money (less 5% commission). If the dealer beats you on both hands, you lose. If you split, it's a push and you keep your bet.
It's a fun game that you can usually play for a long time, because it's pretty common to push. Usually you win a few, you lose a few, and you push a lot. Meanwhile, you can place a side bonus bet on each hand which pays odds if you make certain poker hands, regardless of whether you beat the dealer or not. A straight pays 2-to-1, trips pay 3-1, flush 4-1, a boat is 5-1. Those are, by far, the most common bonus hands you'll see in a night, and it's not at all uncommon to win your bonus bet but push the hand (if you've got a 5-card flush, there's a good chance that your remaining 2 cards for the other hand are crap losers).
Anyhow, for about 45 minutes or so, I was nearly untouchable. I kept hitting the flushes and boats for the bonus, and I won the hands too. Definitely a lucky night for me, just as an example on one hand I got a pair of 5's, with an A-J for my two card hand -- usually a push, maybe a loss -- but the dealer managed to get a pair of 4's with an A-10, so I won. Time and again, I would just barely beat the dealer, or push but get the 4-1 or 5-1 on the flush or boat.
Oh, and the royal? I set the hand as a pair of Aces with a pair of Jacks for the two-card (you don't have to set the bonus hand to get paid for it, so often you'll break up a bonus to try to win the hand). I managed to beat the dealer who had 10's and an A-K. Nearly $800 in a single hand, by far my best night at the tables. And with the other wins I had that night, I walked away from the table with not one but TWO purple/pink chips, the first such "Barneys" I've ever had.
Yep, it was a pretty good night.
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