A remarkable royal flush streak

Note: The player that I interviewed for this story wishes to remain anonymous; I refer to him or her as “Our Player” in this article. To verify Our Player’s story, I asked and received a photo copy of all the W-2Gs Our Player received from casinos.

In the January 2015 issue of Strictly Slots, I described my personal streak of 11 royal flushes over a period of two months. My story prompted Our Player to contact me to describe his/her streak of 12 royal flushes in under a month (with three royals occurring within 24 hours). Because this streak was so remarkable (more so than mine), I decided to interview Our Player. Here is Our Player’s story.

HENRY: How long have you been playing video poker and when did you start?

PLAYER: I have been playing video poker for two years. Previously, I was a blackjack player and then I decided to add video poker to my repertoire because of the additional casino perks (i.e., cash back, bounce back, comps, etc.).

HENRY: Which games do you mostly play, and how did you master the playing strategies?

PLAYER: I play 9/6 Jacks or Better single line games at the $5 or higher denomination (with max coins bet). When I decided to play video poker, I knew I had to master the playing strategy so I purchased the Video Poker for Winners training software. After about 20 hours of practice on my PC, my playing accuracy was consistently at 99+%. That’s when I began playing in the casino.

HENRY: How many hours do you play per month on average, and at what denomination?

PLAYER: The number of days I play per month varies because I only play if the return on the game, including the casino perks, exceeds 100%. If I don’t have an advantage then I don’t play. During this streak of royal flushes, I was playing 3-4 times per week and 3-5 hours per session to take advantage of a casino’s bonus tier-level promotion.

HENRY: Do you consider yourself a professional gambler, or a recreational gambler?

PLAYER: Some people consider me a professional player. Personally, I consider myself an expert, advantaged player. I take advantage of casino offers, play expertly, and have an overall return that exceeds 100%.

HENRY: During a period of four weeks, you hit 12 royal flushes and won $240,000. What do you contribute your good fortune too?

PLAYER: I think it was simply one of those wild streaks of positive variance.

HENRY: In one stretch of 24 hours during your streak, you hit three royal flushes (and won $60,000). From your recollection of that memorable day, can you give some details on what it was like to hit the three royals?

PLAYER: All three royal flushes were at the same casino on two different machines. I was playing a 9/6 Jacks or Better single-line game. On each of these machines, I held three cards to the royal flush and drew the two cards I needed for the royal. The payout for each royal flush was $20,000.

Attitudes of casino personnel varied greatly, but the general aurora is they wanted “their share” of my good fortune. I was amazed at how many floor people and casino security personnel showed up at the hand pay of this amount and frequency. Additionally, the machines I was playing were dismantled twice, right down to taking out the circuit boards, looking for a possible malfunction. If there were one, they had a reason not to pay me. Fortunately, none were found.

HENRY: Hitting three royal flushes within 24 hours was truly remarkable.

PLAYER: I think what surprised me the most was only five days later, while playing in the same casino, I was dealt another $20,000 royal flush [the odds of being dealt a royal flush are one in 649,740].

HENRY: Do you take advantage of casino promotions when you play, and if so, what were they?

PLAYER: I certainly do, or I wouldn’t be able to have a positive return playing video poker. Here are some of the casino promotions that I take advantage of:

• Free play: Sometimes free play can be clumped together on the same day. For instance, playing on a day that offers 1) free play, and 2) redeeming a weekly free play coupon.


• Multiple point days: This gives me a huge advantage, especially since I convert all my points to free play. I do this because at my level of play the food, hotel rooms, etc. are comped. I find speed (i.e. playing fast) is also important on these days, especially since I want to play as many hands as possible during the extra-earning period.


• Gas cards: They offset my travel cost. Additionally, they make excellent gifts for others, and are tax-deductible when given to a 501c organization.


• Play up offers: This occurs when a casino offers a bonus amount of free play for a specific number of points earned on set days. Additionally, if you earn more points you receive more free play. Often the ratio of free play offered for more points earned is a better deal if one plays up to the max.


• Playing at a higher tier level: I usually accumulate a larger number of drawing entries, giving me better odds of winning. So sometimes it’s to my advantage to play other promotions during drawings.


• Special gift days: In general, it’s been my experience that most casino gifts are trashy. They consist of electronics that are outdated, or inferior models of a manufacturer’s line of products, or they are house/garden/camping gear of inferior quality. These gifts make excellent items to donate to various organizations.

HENRY: Have there been any repercussions from casinos over the amount of money that you won?

PLAYER: One casino unexpectedly downgraded all their Jacks or Better games from 9/6 to 9/5, which lowers the return from 99.54% to 98.45%. Also, a casino stopped sending me promotional offers.

Note: Just prior to the publication of this story, I received notification from Our Player that he or she was remarkably dealt another royal flush playing a three-line Super Times Pay machine.


Henry Tamburin, Ph.D., is the editor of the Blackjack Insider e-Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com) and host of smartgaming.com.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.