What do you get for the Holidays for the slot machine fan or gambler in your life?   Don’t look to the internet with a search engine; you’ll get 10,000 hits and some pretty awful ideas.  Here’s a list of books from our VP of Slots, Buddy Frank, who has pretty much tried or bought everything out there:

Slot Machines: America’s Favorite Gaming Device — Marshall Fey
$29.95 (includes shipping)

This is the best history of slot machines you’ll ever find from one of the greatest collectors.  Marshall’s grandfather invented the world’s first slot machine, so these games are in his blood.  This is a great “coffee table” piece and you’ll notice that most of today’s high tech machines evolved from one of these early concepts.  If you buy through the website, Marshall will be happy to autograph your copy.

Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner – Bob Dancer
$24.95

Bob is the country’s greatest video poker expert.  His book is easy to understand and once you complete it, you’ll win more money playing than if you didn’t.   He gives excellent tips whether you’re a pro or a complete novice.   Bob and I have been comparing notes on video poker (him from the player side and me on the casino side) for years.  There’s no one better.

Knock Out Blackjack – Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs
$17.95

Casino table game managers don’t like players who count cards very much.  If you’re really good, they’ll probably ask you to leave.  That said, it is not illegal and if you want to learn how to do it, this book is one of the best.  Olaf has recently become a slot manufacturer, but spent his youth as a math geek (he has a Ph.D.) and there are few better on gambling odds and game play math.  

Sharp Sports Betting – Stanford Wong
$29.95

While sports betting is not allowed in any state but Nevada, probably more people participate in this type of gaming activity than any other worldwide.  Stanford Wong, like Vancura, is a master of gaming odds and has written extensively on many table games as well as this excellent book on betting sports.

Roll The Bones:  The History of Gambling – David G. Schwartz
$29.95

This is an academic work, but is also a fascinating look at how gaming got its start….probably a lot further back than you might have imagined.   Schwartz is also an academic (Ph.D.) contributing frequently at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

 

We’re starting a new feature called “Pick of the Week” to point out the most exciting and interesting happenings at Pechanga.

This week we’re announcing the release of a new multi-bet penny Bally slot machine game called Two for the Money. The game is part of their new ‘Dual Vision’ technology that allows two people to sit on the same machine (you can also go solo if you want and enjoy the big chair).

Playing alongside a friend at a normal bank of slot machines is always fun, but getting on the same machine together is even more enjoyable (in a comfy love-seat no less).

If you play with another person, you can each have different bets for your respective game (two shown on the screen), but both players ultimately share in the winnings.

This is also a Quick Hit progressive slot with a top award of $10,000 (usually grows to up to about $15k). It also has three smaller progressive Quick Hit jackpots of $10, $25 and $150.

Bally has more games coming soon for their ‘Dual Vision’ platform, including one that will include a game board that delivers bonuses when players land on the same spot (among other fun features). This sort of cooperative play will make DualVision even more rewarding down the line.

You can find the game on the right when you first walk in the front entrance. For more in-depth details about ‘Two for the Money,’ check out this overview.

We wanted to know the Pechanga Facebook community’s favorite gambling comeback stories, but we never expected to hear such epic tales from both here at Pechanga and abroad. Take a look at a few of our favorites below:

Eric won tickets to Ray Romano & Brad Garrett May 22 for being so persistent in making his recent comeback happen.

“Went to Pechanga one saturday and played jackpot station amongst other games but mostly that game. I lost my $800 bank roll in no time. I was so bummed since I knew it was going to be a long hour plus drive home to Long Beach, and I had pretty much just got there. So I left and came home. It bugged me all night, I couldn’t even sleep. So when sunlight hit at around 5:45 am I got dressed and drove right back to pechanga. I was determind to win. Sat down played jackpot station and lost another 300 bucks.I was crushed. Walked back to the parking lot and began to drive away when my wife says “You know we have another hundred bucks we can play.” That’s all I needed to hear. I parked, sat back down at jackpot station and hit a bonus right away and walked out of the casino with $800 bucks. I know it wasn’t all I lost but I felt sooo awesome. Now that’s a comeback story. literally. hah” - Eric J.

Pauline won a Pechanga gift card for her story, which we simply had to recognize as an honorable mention:

“Lost my money, was waiting for my husband to finish up his. Was standing against a Hoot Loot machine looking at an ATM machine wondering if I should pull more money out, I did. Got a hundred dollar bill put into the Hoot Loot machine, selected 20 lines $1 each, hit the spin button, the machine went black!! OMG!

I thought it stole my money and was wondering how I was going to explain this to my husband, but like 15 seconds later it said JACKPOT on the screen. $4000 beautiful dollars! Went home not saying a word to my husband, until he came out of the shower and saw all the money covering the bed!! You should have seen the look on his face!!” - Pauline L.

From $100 to $4,000

“We were at TI 2000 Super Bowl Sun. after the game and about $150 left out of $1500 from a fun weekend, we thought one more $100 then off to bed to drive home Mon. we went over to the $5 machines and dropped it in, playing one coin at a time hit for $1000 my husband and I were with a couple of friends so I gave them some money, the four of us were playing the whole row of $5 machines, It seemed every one we played hit… CRAZY!!! We walked away with $4000 so then on our way to bed one last stop at the roulette one more number can’t remember the number but hit for $600. It was like Lady Luck was sitting right on my shoulder……Once in a life…..awww I hope not” - Tammy C.

From $20 to $9,576.17

“Went to ENCORE in Vegas 4 months after they had opened. @ 5am my husband and i called it a night cuz we lost a lot at the Roulette table. I decided to stop by @ a penny machine with a max bet of $1.80. It had a progressive of $9,576.17.

I put a $20.00 and the first time i bet.. got the JACKPOT BABY! the funny thing is that we were so tired that we didn’t noticed that we had won. I kept trying to bet but it wouldn’t until the attend said that we had won… best ever! So really it’s all about luck and timing!” - Kathryn Serafin

From $200 to $5,000 (at Pechanga no less)

“Went out to Pechanga with my wife for dinner and some gambling….bought in the Craps table for $100 each, wasn’t going to hot…at one point we had all monies on the table then cards kept hitting 4, we kept pressing the bets we ended up with a $200 bet on 4 and we went home with $5000” - John C.

From $40 in poker to a streak of awesome

“I had 40 dollars left…I went to the poker room and played a 1-2 no limit game….down to 8 bucks….I went all in with a 5/7 off suit made a straight..won that pot…THEN after that 2 hours later im up 1300 dollars!!!!! I LOVE PECHANGA!!!! WOOP WOOP!!!! On top of that I got High hand of the hour two times!!! For an extra 150 bucks each!!! I had four of a kind 8’s and A STRAIGHT FLUSH!!! It was amazing, the most insane lucky streak I have ever had!!!!” - Adrianne H.