The Making of a Poker Player

Author: Matt Matros
Publisher: High Stakes
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10 THE MAKING OF A POKER PLAYER

going, when I saw an open slot machine. That seemed perfect, and I sat down next to it and loaded it up with my final $6. The machine gave me the option to bet either $2 or $1. In the spirit of trying to lose my money as fast as possible, I bet $2 and pushed the button. Cherry, seven, blank. No money. I made another $2 bet. Blank, cherry, orange. No money. I tried to bet my last $2, but the machine wouldn't let me. I almost screamed. I tried to bet $1 instead, and this time the machine went in motion. Again, I lost. With my final dollar in the machine, I made my last bet of the night. The columns started spinning, and again they each stopped in turn. Then something different happened. The middle column remained still and the two outer columns started spin ning for a second time. They stopped in turn, and then the light on top of the machine started flashing. It kept making this ringing sound, but no coins were coming out. Trying to get permission to leave, I turned to the person next to me.

"What's going on?" I said.

"Oh, you won," he said.

"Huh?"

"You won, you won a thousand dollars."

I just stared.

"That's if you bet two dollars," said some jealous old lady. "If you bet one dollar, you won five hundred dollars."

"Excuse me?"

A woman in a business suit came by and said, "Congratulations, sir," and told me I just needed to put another dollar into the machine to make it official.

"I don't have another dollar," I said.

"Oh, that's fine," she said, and she pressed some buttons on the ma chine to make it spin another time. It spun around and stopped just like it had the first three times. The instant it finished she said, "Congratu lations, sir, I'll be right back with five hundred dollars for you."

"Okay," I said, still not believing I would receive money. I waited at the slot machine for what seemed like an hour but was probably around ten minutes. The woman did come back, and when she did she handed me a mixture of hundreds, twenties, and tens that added up to five hundred smackers.