Dear Mark, If every hand dealt in
video poker is random, and the chances of hitting
a royal flush is 40,000 to one, are not the chances of hitting that second consecutive
royal one in 40,000? Also, do you know if two consecutive royal flushes have ever
happened? I came one card away last weekend. Jimmy S.
…and the
rest of us mere mortals, Jimmy, are always one card away from our first. Once
hitting your first royal flush,
the odds of another on the following
hand remain the same, one in 40,000. But, Jimmy, if your question meant what are
the odds of hitting two consecutive royals in a row before your first royal appears,
that answer is one in 40,000 times multiplied by one in 40,000, or one in 1.6
billion.
When I worked at the Cal Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe
in the early 80’s, I recollect one graveyard shift us paying off a consecutive
royal flush.
The kicker was that the player had to invest just five, and
not 10 quarters. Reason being, once his
jackpot was paid, the casino, on our dime, inserted five of our own quarters
to clear the machine and let him play through. This lucky guy came right back
with a natural royal flush, again in spades.
Someone from Reno is going
to have jog my memory, but I vaguely remember a person hitting three consecutive
royals at a Raley’s supermarket on Virginia St. about twenty years ago. Drop
me a line if you recall any of the details.
