2 Royals in 10 hands? Almost...

[Gmitch36]

I was playing at the Rio on Jan 1st, I sometimes play $1, but normally I am a 50 cent player, which I was playing then. I was doing pretty well on the trip, (I already had hit a royal the first day of my trip at the Cromwell bar), I was hoping to maybe hit a few four of a kinds to end my trip, but I held 10,Q,A of clubs and it filled in the K and J.

My wife and I celebrated and quickly received our winnings and proceeded to play on the same machine. Within about 10 hands, I was dealt A,A,K,J,3 (The A,K,J were spades). I believe the correct play in DDB is to hold AA, which I did, but low and behold the next two cards are the 10, and Q of spades!! My wife and I covered our mouths in disgust! What did I just do...OMG

Has anyone ever had this happen to them before? It was a little less upsetting because we had just hit for $2,000, but oh that would have been so sweet!!

[FloridaPhil]

This kind of thing happens all the time in video poker.  When my wife and I miss a royal by one card, we say "Missed it by one!".  This is such a common occurrence that it has become a joke in our family.  Actually, if you were playing a royal progressive and the jackpot was big enough you would have been right to go for the royal and you would have won it.  Although in DDB, the jackpot would have had to be pretty large to ditch twin aces.  Some people I know go for the royal all the time.  They do hit more royals, but they lose more money in the long run.  I have heard stories of back to back royals, but that's never happened to us....yet. 

[Azure Dragon]

Had something similar happen to me on an Ultimate X machine at the Atlantis in Reno several years back. If I recall correctly I was playing 5-play, and I had 3 to a royal with a low pair. Decided to hold the low pair for some dumb reason and sure enough the other two royal cards were the first to drop on I think the second hand. I think I did manage one three of a kind though. At least I didn't have any active multipliers to make it that much worse.

[FloridaPhil]

Here's a royal that was hit by going against the mathematics.  I play according to the strategy in my VPW software, but my wife goes for the royal if the penalty is small.  One morning in Tahoe, I decided to give her method a chance and you can see the result.  She will never stop kidding me about this.  Normally I would not have played these crappy odds, but we were on vacation and it's all I had to chose from.

[FAA]

I thought she would be upset about you not max betting. At least you escaped the tax man!

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=FAA]


I thought she would be upset about you not max betting.[/quote]I only play short coin if I'm going to be forced to play crappy odds for a number of days.  I avoid those games now, but sometimes if I'm on a cruise ship or on vacation it comes up.  Over a week 97% odds will eat up your money faster than royals can happen.  I realize some people may not understand this statement, but the fact is there is real math behind it.In a couple hours, anything can happen.

[FAA]

Aha. As you know, with my budget I short coin even w superb odds. Usual Rationalization: A neg game is a neg game. 
You were very smart to just dial it back one coin. I know I'm toast on straight max coin, but I hate working like hell for a chump change quad. Going four coin is still aggressive, but without the lead foot.

[FloridaPhil]

When playing negative games, you will often lose less long term playing short coin at the same denomination because you run less money through the machines per hour.  It's a good option for someone on budget.  If you hit a royal playing short coin don't beat yourself up, just think about all the money you saved in the mean time. 

[Vman96]

I thought she would be upset about you not max betting. At least you escaped the tax man!

He still got 800 for 1 on the royal though. This is a 10-coin unit with no penalty for 5 to 10 coins.

As for the OP, I've never seen the missing royal cards show up when I've held the high pair instead. I've played enough where I would have thought I have got one by now. Maybe I've just never noticed.

[markinca]

I thought she would be upset about you not max betting. At least you escaped the tax man!

Would this technically be considered short-coining? There's no extra royal premium by playing 10 credits vs. 5, right?