I was killing time on 1-yen pachinko machines on Sunday. A 1-yen pachinko machine is kind of a joke because each spin is only worth 1 yen instead of 5, you can play for an hour or so for 15 bucks or so. I won $250, which is apparently the record for that pachinko parlor. I spent $50 of that on booze and $200 on baseball stuff

Ugh.

it was tasty booze

I went to Louisiana with a buddy of mine one time, because he wanted to play some poker.

While we were there, he went in to play in the Texas Hold'Em games, and I spent time in the wives' parlor - I mean, the penny slots parlor just outside of the poker room.

While he proceeded to lose ~$300, I won almost $100 playing an Aliens slot machine.  I'd gotten up to $30 when I finally hit this ultra mega combo thing, and had to make a few guesses, which earned me triple rewards.

When I went to cash out, the lady was like "...huh?  You won this here?"

About 2 minutes later, some mexican dude was sitting at the machine; he won an additional $50.

I spent $50 of that on blow and $200 on underage hookers

fixed that for you.

I'd have just said that, Lucas is a little more conservative...

WTF is everyone's obsession with poker anyway? And yes I realize this might sound odd coming from me. But everyone but me seems to find this crap fascinating. Bores the fuck outta me.

I think gambling in general is boring (sorry Si!)

What I really don't understand, though, is watching poker on TV.  The idea of sitting in front of the TV watching poker falls in that realm of completely foreign ideas like watching golf or nascar.

Golf I can watch, at least sometimes. And I find gambling pretty boring myself, which is why I'm perfectly happy to be on this side of the fence.

Im watching golf right now. It makes good background noise. I like how i can not pay any attention and then, just by the crowd noise, see an amazing shot.

I spent $50 of that on blow and $200 on underage hookers

fixed that for you.

I think you confused him and I.

I like betting on anything where I can use my head, even if it's pretty much luck. So cards, sports and warrants are things I do mostly for fun. Pachinko and slots I generally don't get into because it's just sitting around, however I had an hour to kill last Sunday and the bars weren't open yet.

I dont gamble.

Cant see the point to it.

BUT, BUT, JUST A LITTLE LONGER, AND YOU'RE BOUND TO HIT THAT JACKPOT!!!!

Right.

That's exactly why I dont.

I like gambling in small doses.  Fortunately I'm the kind of person that once I lose $50 I am turned off from gambling for a year.  I'd rather waste my money on food, drugs, and electronics.

If I can give you a piece of actual, serious advice, I'd highly recommend not getting too into gambling. It's a slippery fucking slope, especially for those of us with addictive personalities.

And on that note:

NOFX - I Am An Alcoholic

I think that may be my new theme song.

I think I have the opposite of an addictive personality. I like doing/drinking/smoking/betting on a lot of stuff and I do so often, but I can switch off for weeks or months.

I spent a dime I found on the floor once in a nickel slot, won $.85, played that and eventually came up $120 for 20 minutes of play ...
Thanks, FoxWoods; I'll add that to my "profit" I already have from them ...

It was over 3 machines, btw; I'd hit one, go to another; I planned on losing the money, however, my brother told me to just quit ...
We had a nice lunch ...

Once on a trip to New Orleans, me and a couple of my buddies were walking around Bourbon Street, and I decided I wanted a daiquiri.  There was a little open-air shop that sold them but the lady said I couldn't leave with it and I had to drink it there, so I sat down at one of the video poker machines in the place and out in a dollar's worth of quarters since I was running low on money.  I had never gambled before in my life.

I bet 25 cents on the first two hands and didn't get anything, then on the third I got three of a kind and won a couple bucks.  I bet another quarter and got five of a kind with a wild card, winning me about 25 bucks off of one quarter.  So I stopped there and cashed out.

While I'm cashing out, I notice this black dude behind me cursing to himself and acting angry as he's walking out of the place, and the girl is trying not to smile to herself as she gives me the money, then she says, "Be careful on your way out."  I aks her why and she says, "That guy has been sitting at that same machine for over an hour now pumping five dollars into it at a time and getting nothing, then you walk up right behind him and win five of a kind with a quarter.  He's pissed."

I got the fuck out and we headed back home.