The day a man in a short beard and a rugged cap took my jackpot
I think that I am more or less even this year. With gambling that is. Maybe up or down a few hundred, but it’s hard to remember from January. Plus, a good rule of thumb is to never string along your previous wins and losses or it just becomes a headache. So then why waste so much time, gas, energy, etc. on gambling? Well for one, it’s fun. And two, I’m still waiting for that jackpot.
This past weekend I was in Palm Springs for a friend’s birthday. Normally I’m not too fond of the casinos at PS, but this time they were pretty generous to all of us. Since I have been legitimately broke these days, I dabble with little money, hoping for a quick win. With $20, I made $300. This was good enough for me so I stopped. I got a free trip and on our way back to LA, we stopped by Morongo. I have a lot of fond memories at this casino as a lot of my college nights were spent here (I went to UC Riverside).
While the others went into the buffet I went into the high limit slots. Gamblers know you don’t get hungry when you’re in a casino. As I mentioned before, I really believe high limit slots pay out more. And most people don’t know that there are still $1 slots in there. So I sat down at one. I got a feeling that it was about to pay out. I told myself, however, that I would only play $50 and I would stop. I played $51. It didn’t give me shit. So I stood up. Then a Hispanic man with a short beard and a rugged cap sat down after me, put in $100, then on the first spin he got a little jackpot. How wonderful.
Did I mention that it was his first spin? I was enraged. All I could think was, ‘That’s my money! He jacked me!’ Then, I was on mad tilt. I sat at every which machine and just pressed the button again and again until I used every dollar that was in my wallet. (Another good rule is to never keep all your money with you on the casino floor).
I’ve never won a jackpot, small or big, and that’s closest I’ve been (that I know of anyway). Why did I have to stay there to see him win? The unluckiest part of this whole thing was how I witnessed the man win right after me. Why can’t I just be happy for him? He might have needed it more than I did (though he didn’t show the slightest bit of enthusiasm). It didn’t matter.
I just created a new rule: Always turn around and get the hell out of there once you stand up from a machine.
