Written by John Grochowski, Gaming

I recently was contacted by a reader who had a tale of extreme beginners luck. It seems the reader’s son drew a royal flush on a quarter video poker machine on his 21st birthday, on the very first hand he ever played. He played again the next day, and drew another royal, then did it again the next day. Three royal flushes, all within about 1,000 hands, starting from the young man’s first lifetime hand.

The dad was present for the first one. They started off splitting play on a Triple Play Poker machine, alternating hands while playing from a shared bankroll and agreeing to split winnings.

“I played the first hand, then on the second he was dealt three parts of a royal flush,” the dad told me. “Then on the draw, would you believe it, the other two parts came up. The first hand he ever played in his life, and he had a royal flush.”

“The next night,” the dad said, “he realized he’d never played on his own, that he’d split play all night. Before long, my cell phone went off. He’d sent me a picture of him at a single-hand Bonus Poker machine. Another royal flush.”

This time, the son cashed out immediately. That $1,000 and $400 from the previous night went directly into the bank account. But he wasn’t finished. The next day, after watching a basketball game with buddies, he went back once more, and drew a royal once more.

The dad was flabbergasted: “If I hadn’t seen the pictures AND the money, I wouldn’t believe it myself. Now I just have to make him understand, it isn’t always like this. Don’t want him to get the bug.”