The ideal assumption is that you can make no assumptions

By John Grochowski

Ever have an “oops!” casino moment, 1 of those times when factors have gone incorrect and you know it’s your own fault since you didn’t verify the game guidelines or assumed a small too much?

I certain have. I’ve been going to casinos because the 1980s, and I’ve pulled some doozies. One particular came at an Indiana casino a even though ago, back when most machines were nonetheless set to a single coin denomination. The casino was a single of the Midwest’s initial to offer SuperTimes Pay.&nbsp I like the game very a lot, and have no qualms about playing SuperTimesTriple Play on a quarter machine with a decent spend table, even although the $7.50 maximum bet is double that on normalTriple Play, and six occasions the $1.25 on a common single-hand quarter game.

Problem: I assumed this was a quarter game.&nbsp A natural sufficient assumption, considering that my wife was on a quarter machine 1 spot to the appropriate. It wasn’t. When I hit the max coins button, it deducted $30 from my $one hundred get-in. Turns out my wife and I were on opposite sides of the dividing line among quarter and dollar games. This wasn’t the game for an individual of my modest signifies. I cashed out the rest and moved on to something far more bankroll appropriate.

Oops!

I witnessed one of the wonderful “oops” moments in Las Vegas in the early 1990s.The Tropicana at the time had a bank of massive-funds quarter progressives close to the entrance, with a 3-coin maximum bet and a jackpot that often reached $250,000.

One particular morning, I got off the elevator and walked into the casino to be greeted by a host I knew. He directed my focus to a player who was just sitting and staring at the reels on one particular of the progressives, so motionless he could have been a mannequin.

“See that guy?” the host asked. “He just hit the blue 7s. And he only bet one particular quarter.”

I asked how significantly he’d won.

“Oh, a few hundred quarters,” the host mentioned, shaking his head at what saving 50 cents on the bet had price in the finish.

I didn’t verify, and that might have been an exaggeration. Maybe it was thousands of quarters and not hundreds. But still—oops.

I put it to other players, asking about some of their “oops” moments:

DAN

I have a couple for you, both on video poker. I typically play dollar video poker but occasionally I go into the high-limit area and play 1 coin on a $5 machine. I’ve had accomplishment at hitting 4 deuces. Properly, I hit a royal about six months ago. I believed I had hit for $four,000, given that that is what a $5 bet would have been on a dollar machine. Envision my disappointment when I realized the payout was only $1,250. I assumed the identical bet size would bring the identical payoffs, but you have to bet max coins or else the royal is only 250-for-1. It was a good payout, but I discovered a lesson about not playing max coin in! But at the same time, I can’t afford $25 a hand.

The other issue is, when I get up from a machine to go to the men’s area, I often cash out, but leave my players card in the machine and cover the screen. In January I came back to my machine and started playing again. I hit four deuces for what I thought&nbsp was for $1,000. It turns out the machine had a max 25-coin play as an alternative of the usual 5-coin max, and I had forgotten to limit my play to five coins, or $five. So, I ended up with a $five,000 payout alternatively of the thousand.

That time, I was grateful for the mistake, but by no means am I going to play $25 a hand on my bankroll!

MARGARET

Mine has to be the first time I played video slots. I was utilized to constantly playing max coins on the reel slots, and I figured I ought to do the very same on video.&nbsp I feel it was Reel ’Em In, although I can’t remember after all this time. It could have been Jackpot Party or one of the other individuals.

I didn’t play the videos at 1st. I loved my reels. But my girlfriend convinced me to give it a try. It was a nickel game and had nine lines. I figured, OK, this will be a cheap try, 45 cents to play all the lines. I didn’t know it would take five coins on every line. I hit max coins, and didn’t notice proper away how significantly it had taken. So I hit max coins once more, and then again, just before I ultimately noticed that my credits have been receiving awfully small. I wasn’t betting 45 cents, I was betting $two.25! It took a couple of months prior to I’d try that again, this time at one coin per line!

CARLA

I don’t know if this counts, simply because it is not playing or approach or something, but it was in a casino and it embarrassed me. I’d only played in Las Vegas, and was utilized to the waitresses bringing cost-free drinks. So I was playing the slots, and the waitress came by and I asked for a beer.

She came back, and said it would be $five. I was shocked, and I was unprepared. I only had $20 to start with, and that was in the machine. My husband and I figured we’d get money when we got to the casino, and he hadn’t come back from the ATM but.

Anyway, while I was fumbling by means of my purse trying to come up with $five in loose change to spend, my husband identified me and handed me some cash. I paid the waitress and apologized for keeping her. Yet another couple of minutes and I’d have had to inform her I didn’t want the beer soon after all. Oops!