Luckiest moment in (any kind of) gaming/gambling?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I wanna hear your miracle stories. I want to hear about the perfect critical hit at the perfect time, the insanely good Magic card topdeck, the poker showdown you had no chance of winning, but still did.

Other than my “normal” luck at some games (especially Can’t Stop), my one shining moment was at Texas Hold’Em, during a casual, low stakes ($5 each) tournament.

I was in with a K-6 suited. Lo and behold, the flop was K-6-9! Now, even I know two pair on the flop is pretty darn good, so I’m prepared to go in pretty hard. The guy right before me is also betting pretty aggressively, so I’m raising and/or calling with him. The fourth card is irrelevant, so he and I both continue on this path. It’s soon just him and me, and he goes all in.

Now, perhaps I should’ve folded at this point, but I instead decided to call. To my horror, my opponent’s hand is K-9! I’m sure I’m doomed. Then comes the river, which is…

You guessed it…

A 6.

There is an audible reaction from the rest of the table. My opponent, needless to say, is quite bitter. I’m too stunned to react. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to get over the horror of the K-9 before I’m hit with the 6 whammy. I’m dazed, and still am a little, at my luck as I take his chips.

To make it worse for this particular opponent, an old coworker of mine, this is the second time I’ve beaten him on the river with a full house against a seemingly unbeatable hand and nearly, or actually, wiped him out of the tournament.

I want more from you all! Don’t disappoint me!

2

Hmmm…

Well, once when I was a kid (pre-teens) we had family over for the holidays or something. Eventually someone got the idea of a penny-ante (literally) poker game. I was allowed to play, after some persuasion, and they began teaching me how to lose my allowance.

Forget what game it was, but there was some clause or other where the whole hand got redealt if a certain card were dealt. The pot remained, and everybody had to re-ante or match the pot or something… whole bunch of weird little rules ya know.

The pot grew. I kept playing. I borrowed future allowances to keep playing. Eventually it was me, Mom, and a $60 pile of change.

I won. q;}

Hey, that’s pretty good for a kid!
Then there was the time I was down to my last $5, outta smokes, outta gas, and outta food. Stopped to put $2 in the tank on my way to find something cheap to eat, and the clerk said something along the lines of “Dangit, he (unknown previous customer) said he wanted this lottery scratchoff but he left, now I tore it off the roll and there’s nowhere to put it!”

So I bought it.

Nope, not one of THOSE stories; I only won $20.

But I was happy.

3

The last time I was in Vegas I sat down at a quarter slot machine, fed in a twenty, hit the MAX PLAY button, and watched as the reels stopped at a three hundred coin payoff with a triple pay symbol. Then, after a floorman paid me the $225.00 I had won and reset the machine, I continued playing and eventually cashed out with another $100.00.

4

Heh, weirdest story I have was when I was 18 and enjoying a buffet with relatives at a hotel celebrating one of my cousin’s communion. Afterwards a few of us went into the bar and lingered by the VLTs. I dug into my pockets and only found a quarter, so I put that in, hit spin and everyone was amazed when 3 symbols matched up and I won 50$.

I still kind of get pissed knowing that if I put in a dollar (maximum spin) I would’ve probably gotten over 500$ on that one spin.

Oh well.

5

Here’s a thing that happened to me:

I responded to an Advert in a shop window around the corner from home. It turned out to be a pro gambler who was obsessed with Roulette. I went round, after a lot of chit-chat he asked some odd sporting questions (how was my ‘eye’ for cricket, for snooker ?) he took me into his kitchen where he had a rented roulette wheel.

For a while I had to stand about 10 feet from the wheel and say which number was passing a given diamond (those little things that stand out and the ball usually hits before it falls into the wheel) exactly as the ball hit the diamond - it hit the same diamond over 50% of the time. Obviously the wheel is spinning moderatley quickly, not everyone could read the numbers.

That was my interview.

Then, at the end, he asked me one last time, took a certain distance on a stop watch and called a number. The ball dropped, he got it exactly right, and I was blown away.

There was luck involved because he was really just identifying the number at the centre of a range of numbers, it just so happened the ball fell dead in the middle of the predicted range.

That was something else. After that, he offered me regular work!

6

Is that where you get the “Calling” part of you name??? :wink:

7

I was in Vegas for my best friends bachelor party and was staying for a week at Mandalay Bay. The groom and I just wandered into the casino while we were checking out the place and he decided to sit down at blackjack. I hadn’t planned on gambling yet and I didn’t feel like getting money so I asked him to sport me a $100 chip. 8 hours later I was up $12,000. When I went to cash out that night the cashier looked at me and told me she hoped I was getting a a plane ride home. She said my average bet was $1600. I had been playing craps and was buying 10’s and 4’s for 300-500 and backing up my pass line bets 4x. I probably threw away at least $1000 in tips. When the week was over I walked away with $4000 and had been comped everything–every meal; every room service; the room; EVERYTHING except the things they can’t. The entire week cost me $400 and that was basically for massages at the spa. I was bummed cuz they comp those in Atlantic City.

In another instance I was bowling with a bunch of people and was guttering virtually every ball because I wasn’t remotely paying attention. The groom of the previous story shouted from a few lanes over that he’d give me 10 to 1 odds for any amount that I couldn’t get a strike on the next ball. Without missing a beat I screamed $1000, grabbed a ball, and wailed it down the lane. STRIKE. The entire place went into an uproar. For those who don’t know odds thats 10k for me. Hilarious.

8

A friend and I were betting the horses at the Turf Club awhile ago, back when we had almost zero knowledge of how to pick a race (as opposed to now, when I have .000001 units of knowledge). We don’t really do it to make money, rather as an alternative way to spend 40 bucks for a couple of hours of entertainment, so our style is to both occasionally both throw in a couple of bucks to bet on the same race, especially at the end of the night.

On one instance, I gave my buddy five bucks and told him I liked the 2-6 at Philadelphia Park, or whatever, and he went up to the little computer betting terminal to bet a $10 exacta. The race ends, we didn’t win, and I check the slip- he bet on the wrong track. Turns out, he bet on some harness race where the 2 and 6 were a 50-1 and a 17-1. Of course, I wouldn’t be telling the story if it didn’t come in 2-6, and we pulled in some serious coin. Most money I’ve ever won on a single bet, not that that’s a difficult distinction to achieve.

KidCharlemagne, the guy didn’t pay, did he?

9

When I was living in PEI during the 90’s we had government sanctioned video lottery terminals in practically every corner store. These machines were only allowed to operate during certain hours, and would self-enforce the operation time.

My then-girlfriend/now-wife worked in a little corner store with a few of these machines, and I often kept her company until she closed at 11:30 PM. One Saturday night I was playing a machine called “Swinging Bells” which was basically a 3 row slot machine, and if you got the bells in a “+” pattern you hit the jackpot and got 10 free pulls with each bell being worth X amount of credits.

My SO was ready to leave around midnight, so I clicked the Max Bet button and spent all 50 5-cent credits that I had remaining. Sure enough I got the “Swinging Bells” with a max bet and the machine goes berserk with loud catchy music and a flashing light on the top.

I played 8 of these free pulls bringing in over 9000 credits, when midnight strikes and the machine starts its shutdown procedure. I forgot that on Saturdays the terminals shut down at midnight, as legally they can’t be used on Sundays. So the machine spits out my 450 dollar ticket, and becomes inoperable with 2 free bonus spins remaining and the bonus music and lights still playing wildly.

When my SO opened the next morning, it was still in jackpot mode and it stayed like that all day. Everyone who walked in would comment on the machine in jackpot mode and on the large payout as it left the last payout on the screen. When my SO opened the next day, she played the last two rounds for me and cashed in another 150 dollar ticket.

What kind of sucked is that the people who normally played those machines (we’re talking addicts here… People who would blow their welfare checks in 1 day on these machines. My SO knew this for a fact as she was told by her boss to cash the checks from her till) got a severe case of sour grapes and complained to the boss and to the Lottery Commision. With addict logic they claimed that I took “advantage” of the fact that the store was closed and I could play on a machine with a high chance of paying out. Nothing ever came of it, but it was a hassle for a little while.

10

Nice.

11

No offense to original poster, but all you hit was a 2-outer. Everyone has hit/been hit with 1-outers from time to time.

I still remember a 5/10 table in AC once, holding j-9. I flopped a JJ9 for a boat, and saw running Tens give the guy next to me quads. That’s the type of flop where you’re like 500-1.

Still, my proudest moment was parlaying New England straight up with the Under at about 10-1 when they played the Rams in the Superbowl.

That 14 point spread is still the “wrongest” line I’ve ever seen in my life.

12

Yea he did. He’s my best friend and we bet on everything and it’s understood that all bets are legit. It would have been insulting to him if I even attempted to let him out of it and if I did he would have insisted on paying it. Considering he makes 5 million a year, it’s not a big loss.

13

First time I went to the track with a friend, we hit the Pick 6. $12 paid me $700.

At my New Orleans bachelor party, I just played a couple of hands of poker but left the boat $750 richer and covered my buds for the rest of the night.

14

A few months ago a bunch of us from work went out one Friday night to a restaurant in Sydney, Chinta Ria. The next day I was at my local TAB (off course par-mutuel betting office, they’re everywhere in Australia) watching some decent races. The broadcast announced that the favorite in the next at Kembla Grange was Chinta Ria. “An omen,” I thought and strolled over to look at the form. The horse was no bloody good at all, winner of 1 of 23 starts. The young guy next to me was filling out a ticket to back it. I turned to him and said “Mate, you’ll end up with the arse out of your trousers backing things like that. You don’t have to bet your money to find out if it will ever win again.”

“Yeah, what would you back?” he replied snottily.

“Well there are only 3 other horses that aren’t 3 year olds,” I said, “One of them would do. Three year olds don’t beat older horses early in the season.”

He changed his bet and I thought I can have half the trifecta (first 3 in order) for $12. Then I figured that for the same amount I could have half the first four. So I “invested” $24.

The four horses I was on ran 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and I won $7,500 because of the name of the restaurant I ate at the night before. My new snotty friend had picked the winner and was also a happy boy.

15

Prior to starting a family, my wife and i would occasionally gamble at casinos. I learned to hate AC, but I really enjoyed a place in Connecticut called ‘Foxwoods’. Now, my wife and I normally would go with about $100 each for gambling, we’d lose it, get dinner, and then head home. But one Saturday was just Magic.

I started with Carribean Stud Poker, where I hit with 4 kings. I collected my winnings and moved to Blackjack…where I won more. I ‘colored out’ to find my wife, only to find that she was ahead also (two huge buckets of quarters that she was having trouble holding). I helped her wait in line to cash it out and she said “Hey, I’m up $200…!” I told her I was up too, but I didn’t tell her how much.

Well, not wanting to push my luck, I said “Lets get dinner.” As I lead her out, I passed a roulette table. I stopped & put $500 down in a 5-point pattern I use ($100 on 5 different sets of corners in the shape of ‘M’ for money). The dealer spun the ball…and I hit. I then said “color out”, tipped the dealer $20, and took my wife to the nicest restaurant in town (‘The Seaman’s Inn’). I think she had the prime rib and I had the surf & turf…all on Foxwoods money. (They have a Very fine selection of Single Malt Scotch for sipping, BTW)

After dinner, I rented us a room so we wouldn’t have to drive home at night and got us a bottle of Moet for the room (still on Foxwood’s money).

The next day we drove home with all bills paid and still more than a grand between us…which was some trick as we’d only driven up with $200 between us. Then again, as we left the casino parking lot the night before, a Red Fox really did cross the road right in front of our car…

16

My mom took me to a casino for Mother’s day and gave me $50. We hit the slot machines in the early afternoon. I was getting bored fairly quickly so I started feeding in multiple quarter so I would run out fast. Well, I won a $50 jackpot. After that jackpot, the machine never paid out for me again. My mom had moved onto another slot machine area.
I cashed out and took a walk around the casino. Out of ideas, I found my mom - who was playing two machines at once. I asked her if we could leave soon. She insisted that I play one of her machines. I agreed and won another jackpot about $150.
Mom was running out of quarter so I gave her several handfuls then I cashed out. I was left with a bunch of bills and a quarter. I took the one quarter put it in a machine, and won $10. I went into the casino with $50 and won about $300.

17

Back in college a friend and I used to go to Jai Ali. They let college students in for free in those days. As we were poor college students our bets were only $2 each. Anything we won we split down the middle. So we bet a total of $4 on each game.

That magic night we simply could not loose. We left with $200 each burning a hole in our pockets. Being the good kids that we were we went to a bar and got roaring drunk. Then we staggered across the parking lot to the strip club next door.

We got back to the apartment in the cold, grey light of dawn. Each of us back down to $2 total in our wallets.

18

We were on our honeymoon (2 nights in Biloxi and 4 nights in New Orleans), and I was playing the quarter slots. I was betting the max and three WILD symbols came up on the payline (ding! ding! ding!). I won 10,000 quarters, which was $2500. They took out taxes right then and there, and I left with $1675 in cash. This was the first night of our honeymoon, and we didn’t have to worry about a thing the rest of the trip. That money bought a lot of good gumbo.

19

Some years ago when I was living in Toronto, my brother-in-law’s old friend had come to town. They had been at school together overseas, and while my BIL came to Canada (where he met and married my sister), the friend had stayed overseas in the family business–which was thoroughbred horse breeding.

The friend, whom I’ll call “Bob,” was in town to meet and talk with southern Ontario racehorse breeders, but he also wanted to catch up with my BIL, as well as visit Woodbine, the racetrack in Toronto. Since my BIL has no interest in horse racing, and I do, he suggested that Bob and I head for the track.

So a summer Sunday afternoon found us at Woodbine Racetrack. We had been having a bit of luck–with Bob’s eye for horses in the paddock before the race, we had managed to cash a couple of exactors. Not overly huge ones but not small ones either, and we were only playing $2 tickets. We were making enough to cover our bar tab, anyway.

Then the feature race came up. The Racing Form experts and the track handicapper predicted this one to be pretty much a foregone conclusion, since one horse clearly was better than the others. I agreed after studying the Form–this horse had won many stakes races while the others had struggled in cheap claimers. I don’t know how some of the horses got entered in this race, but they had.

The tote reflected this faith in the wonder horse. He began at 1-9, and got shorter from there. The next closest horse on the board was at 30-1, and the rest were longer. It almost wasn’t worth it to bet this race, the best in the field and most likely winner was priced so short.

But Bob, with his eye for racehorses, had been watching the horses in the paddock and the walking ring. “The favourite doesn’t want to run today,” he said. “He doesn’t want to be here at all. I don’t think he’s going to run a good race. What do you think?”

Well, I obviously couldn’t see the things he did, so I told him what I was reading in my Racing Form–that the experts said this horse was more than capable of winning, especially against this field. “Yes, but those ‘experts’ aren’t seeing what I’m looking at right now,” was his reply.

“I’m going to bet on the next closest in price,” Bob said. “He seems readier to race then the favourite, and looks to be the best of the rest. Can I place a wager on him for you?” There were only a few minutes to post time, so he got up and was heading out of the bar, going to the mutuel windows.

“Sure,” I called after him. “Get me two bucks to win on your horse.” Might as well follow Bob’s lead–he’d had some good hints all day, and who knows? Two dollars on a longshot is fairly harmless and kind of fun. He waved and disappeared into the crowd.

When Bob returned, he handed me a ticket. “Here you go,” he said. “Ten bucks to win on my choice.”

I looked at the ticket. Then I looked at the tote. “Ten dollars on the nose of a 30-1 shot?” I asked. “I said two, not ten.”

He looked confused. “I thought you said ten. I got a ten-dollar win ticket myself.”

“No, I said two.” I wasn’t angry; I guess he had a hard time hearing me over the crowd as he was heading for the windows and misheard “two” for “ten.” I was sure I would lose it, but we’d had a good day and I had to admit that I really could afford to lose ten bucks on an educated hunch. I handed him a ten dollar bill to pay for my ticket, and we settled back to watch the race.

Well, to make a long story short, he was right. The favourite turned in an unexpected, certainly less-than-adequate performance, and our longshot horse won. He shortened a little on the tote just before post time, but after he won, we cashed our ten dollar tickets to the tune of about $280 each.

I had never hit a longshot like that before, and I haven’t since. Bob hasn’t been back to Canada since then either, which may explain why. But I did watch for “our” horse the rest of that summer, and I’m pleased to say that while I never hit that big on him again, he was responsible for me cashing many more tickets than I lost on.

20

I was in Reno last summer, playing quarter video poker, 5 quarters/hand. I was dealt 4 high clubs: A, Q, J and 10. (This is no big deal…it happens to me a couple of times every trip). So I held the 4 clubs, said “C’mon, King!” and pushed the Draw button. And there it was, pretty as a picture. $1200.

I hit a Royal one other time, but it was dealt–the original 5 cards in my hand were a Royal Flush. That was so surreal, the incident above feels “luckier”.