I’ve spent about a decade now in the online community of people who enjoy slots. I’ve personally witnessed some incredibly cool moments, from Brian Christopher’s biggest casino win to date at MGM Grand Detroit all the way to my own Grand jackpot on a $1 bet.
I didn’t expect that the biggest win I ever witnessed would be outside of slots, and by one of my closest friends, but yet recently I watched him play the final table of a World Poker Tour event at the Wynn in Las Vegas.
My friend is a talented player who had won a pretty substantial tournament in his 20s, but had taken a lot of time off from poker during most of his 30s. Still, I knew he had that potential in him. The tournament featured nearly 10,000 entries, and when he was down to the top 50 I told him if he made the final table I’d fly in. He did, and I was there.
The Wynn was a full-circle moment in some ways, because the first time I ever went to Las Vegas was with that same friend, as at the time we were work colleagues. Not only was the conference we attended held at the Wynn, the ballroom where the final table took place was the same one that housed the vendor marketplace of the conference we had attended 10 years earlier.
The audience section was two rows of seats on the sides of the set constructed for the event. If one of us ever needed to run to the rest room, there were seat fillers to keep the audience looking full, just like I’ve seen happen at other TV show tapings I’ve attended where the audience can be visible. (Once, as a solo attendee of a taping of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, I was effectively serving that role, being moved around to keep a seat section looking full.)
Like any TV setup, there was some interesting dynamics. Different parts of the room were different sets with the World Poker Tour personalities recording various elements. The audience had a TV to show the action, but without the hole cards shown to avoid any risk of gameplay being disrupted. There was an online stream that was on a half hour delay, further to avoid any issues with gameplay disruption.
There were six people at the final table, and while he got knocked out sixth, his $1,100 entry turned into a cool $250,000. (The winner was up for $1.1 million and an entry to the annual World Poker Tour main event.)
Afterwards, we took a swing at a slot in the high limit room, $100 each, and managed a 350x triple upgrade bonus on Spooky Link on a $10 bet. He asked me to pick the machine and thought I was a magician. I just picked what I thought would be fun if we were able to bonus. Clearly I was right about that one.
I sometimes joke that Brian might be the unluckiest gambler of his budget size because given the frequency and size of his bets, his $79,000 biggest win ever feels to me like it should be bigger. (Funnily enough, I had been joking with him about that during that trip, just before the win ultimately happened.)
And he only achieved that a year ago, with his previous milestone perhaps half that. Meanwhile, he frequently places bets on slots that exceed $100/spin, where a 1,000x win would be $100,000. (Interestingly, his biggest win was on just a $37.50 bet, hinting at what could be possible if it happened on a bigger bet.)
After our shared jackpot together, I took a few swings at table games betting the most per hand on them I’d ever allowed myself. My bankroll and I both lived to tell the tale (I actually left my Vegas weekend a bit up, something I haven’t been able to say often but achieved a couple of times this year).
When we see other players do something unusual or rewarding, it’s lots of fun to live vicariously – that’s certainly been one of the most fun parts about being in a community of players like ours. To see it happen to someone close was a memorable moment, and one I’m glad I got to witness.
