Warning: long rambling stories ahead. I am bored and waiting to get through my first day back at work since before Christmas. You've been warned!
I've been going to the casino pretty regularly for the past few years. Before that, I played occasionally. I exclusively play slots. I view it as a night out - first with friends back when I brought $50 and played penny denom minimum bet spins and prayed to win $20, and then eventually shifting my mindset to playing higher bets and denominations. I hit my first jackpot handpay a couple of years ago. I hit $3700 on a $27 bet on a Geisha machine. I've hit a few other jackpots here and there, culminating with my biggest jackpot ever this past summer. I hit $12K on a $50 bet on a Pompeii slot machine.
Well, the long story short is that I have fallen out of love with gambling. I have somehow managed to have a positive ROI on gambling. I track my withdrawls and win on a spreadsheet. To put it bluntly: I have been extremely lucky over the past few years. I know that slots are not a viable way to win money in the long run, so I made a decision a few months ago to "retire" from gambling at the end of 2020.
I went to my local casino last Wednesday. It just so happens when I hit a jackpot that I usually do it within the first half hour or so I'm at the casino. Well, it happened again. After going up $600 or so on another slot machine (I don't remember the name), I went to one of my most hated/favorite old school slots - Zeus dollar denomination. One of my worst moments in all of gambling was a few years ago. I got a bonus round on the Zeus dollar denomination on max bet of $45 a spin. I was BEYOND excited. I've seen Youtube videos where people have won tens of thousands of dollars in that exact scenario. Much to my shock, I won nothing. In that game, you don't win anything for triggering the bonus. So I actually *lost* $45 on getting the bonus. I cashed out and left immediately.
Anyway, last week I hit a modest $4500. It was exciting...but not as exciting as I thought it should be. I was cool, calm, and...detached. The wins didn't mean much to me, and the losses mean absolutely nothing. My wife and I are in the EXTREMELY fortunate position that losing $500 or so every week or two at the casino is affordable. I'm not ignorant to how lucky we are to be in this position.
After getting paid out, I played a bit longer. But that hand pay drove home the realization that I had a few months ago: it was time to stop gambling. If I can't get pumped about a big win like that, and if I'm not even phased a little bit by losing, it's just not worth gambling any more. I used to go for entertainment, but even now gambling doesn't provide that much.
As I sit now, I am up roughly $18K over three years of slots. Not bad, but not life changing. Enough that I bought my wife a Burberry and Louis Vuitton handbag on separate occasions. The rest if stashed in savings or in an investment account somewhere. But I am 100% committed to being done. At least for 2021, and probably longer.
If anyone is interested in hearing my thoughts on how to win...I don't have any insight to share. It's luck. I got lucky. I know I got lucky. The usual tropes about setting win and loss thresholds is good advice. Sometimes I chased payouts and hit them. Sometimes I chased and lost. But I managed to hit more than miss, and for that I'm lucky. And thankful.
Anyway. I don't have a major takeaway or anything. I don't have many people I can talk about this with in my personal life, so I figured I'd share a bit of my story here.
If you do gamble, please do so responsibly. Good luck, and try to have fun. If you're not having fun, it's probably not the right way to spend your time or money.
EDIT:
I just wanted to say to anyone who reads this in the future that I appreciate the nice responses and PMs from people. It's nice to share a positive experience with others! I sincerely hope that if any of you choose to play in the future, you choose to do so responsibly. Gambling can be a hugely problematic lifestyle for some people. Stay safe. (end of preaching here).
I also want to take a second to address some comments from some people about slots being skill based. This is 100% false. The concept of slots being skill based in any way is demonstrably untrue with three seconds of reasonable thinking. If we accept that there is a hypothetical slot game which is based on skill and not pure luck, what are the consequences of that? First of all, this information would leak out. There would be no way to contain it. If one person can solve the system, another an as well. Subsequently, someone would write a book on the subject. Think about all the poker and blackjack strategy books out there. These are games where skillful play can increase your odds of winning. Last I checked, there aren't any books or Supersytem-level analyses from prominent individuals willing to stake their names and reputations on publishing a "slot technique" book. There's a reason for this. And also - think about this: casinos still carry blackjack tables for a reason: they still have an edge to win. If there is a surefire way for individuals to win when playing slots, casinos would 100% for sure take these games out of circulation. Casinos are not in the business of giving away money. Any claim there is a foolproof way to win money playing slots does not make sense when critical thinking is applied to the circumstances.
Slots are not like card games. Finding and playing only games where there is a "must win by" progressive is not the same thing as skillful play. That's more akin to something like card counting in blackjack. Many people who design slot machines and engineer the software behind the scenes have posted on Reddit and elsewhere that wins are based on random number generators running behind every spin. There is literally no skill involved - you win or lose each spin based on pure random luck.
I am saying this because there are a number of people who come to this subreddit to look for ways to cheat the system and get easy money. I see posts like this fairly often, and I'm only browsing this subreddit occasionally. Gambling is not, and should not, be a way for anyone looking to make a quick buck. If you're looking to get an edge playing slots because you need to pay bills or make a quick buck, you are already in serious trouble. Do not buy into the delusion that you can get an edge or guarantee a win. People saying this are snake oil salesmen who do not care for you or your well-being.
Anyway. I'm going to stop monitoring this post. I'm still open to receiving PMs or messages, but I've had my fun with this so far. I could do with fewer trolls, but this is the internet. I knew what to expect. Bon chance, everyone!

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Ever since the inception of online slot machines, there have been people who are becoming hooked. They say that in most cases, people will get addicted to gambling as soon as they enter the casino. Now coming to the downsides of online slot games, absolutely any form of gambling could be addictive, so that is why online slot gaming can easily be addicting. For a newbie to online slot games such as login slot, here are some of the basics that you should know before starting to play on your own:Before you play on your own, you must first register at the website that you are going to play on. Once you have registered, you are now ready to play on your own. This is probably the main downside of playing on your own. It is very hard to keep track of your winnings because all you have to do is login to the website and you see your winnings in real time. In addition to that, if you lose on your login slot, it will take a while before you get your winnings.While playing on your own can give you a good experience, it is not recommended for beginners. As we all know, in any gambling game, beginners always get the short end of the stick. Even though it is true that jackpots can be earned easily with minimal investment, it is also true that beginners may find it hard to decide what to bet to place. In addition to that, it takes too much time to learn how to play a particular game and learn its various rules, thus resulting to a loss. In contrast, if you play on a website like login slot online di sini, where you can read up on the various game rules and learn the ins and outs of the particular game before placing bets, you can assure yourself that you are placing your bets with high odds of winning.If you want to maximize your earning potentials, consider getting login slot machines that offer a progressive jackpot. These types of slots are more challenging to play, but they will offer bigger prize than the basic machine. If you want to play a jackpot slot that offers higher payouts than the basic machine, it is advisable that you play in the morning or evening, when the jackpot is not as big as during weekends and holidays. If you are willing to play these types of slot machines during weekdays, you might miss out on huge jackpots that are available during weekends and holidays.Players who are very serious about winning should also try their luck in free online slot machines that offer big jackpots. These types of free slot machines are not found on every corner, so players need to visit several websites to find one that is located in an area where there is a large population. Once you have identified a good free online slot machine that offers progressive jackpots, you should increase your chances of winning big time by playing as many numbers as possible.Players also need to check the list of numbers in the chat box before they start to play the game. Most players tend to confuse the real from the fake jackpots. Before starting to play, it is recommended that players log on to their computer and check the list of numbers in the chat box. They should also read the instructions on the machine to know how to set the amount that they want to bet and how much they are willing to spend for this.

Slot games, like those in slot online Indonesia, have been the most popular online games in the world among casino game enthusiasts. This is because slot games offer the highest jackpot amounts and also best rewards. The best part about playing slot games online is that it can be played conveniently right in the comfort of your home or office. Moreover, you do not need to be anxious about going to a land-based casino for gambling. All you need is a computer and high-speed internet connection and you are ready to go.
Slots that can be played at casinos include video poker machine, slot machine game, crane slot machine and instant slots. Video poker machines offer progressive jackpots, which are capable of growing with the help of winning. On the other hand, slot machines are designed for playing single coins or a combination of coins.
Every time you play a slot machine game, you stand the chance to earn credits or win money. The jackpot amount stays constant and never changes despite the number of spins it gets. This means that no matter how many times you play, the same amount of jackpot will be generated. The real key to earning lots of cash from slots is to be lucky enough to get the jackpot prize more often.
There are some people who lose lots of money playing slot machines because they tend to bet smaller amounts and do not bet their full bankroll. Playing these games frequently can bring about frustration especially for those who only play once in a while. To avoid frustration from losing too much money, it is recommended that betters make their bankroll sizes bigger so that they can win more. Big player types are usually those who lose more often than those who play smaller. The higher denomination slot machines have more chances of paying out big payouts.
Those players who are familiar with slot machine mechanics should know that there are certain strategies that can help them increase the odds of winning the payouts. Most players, however, stick to playing the same pattern of spin but keep switching from one machine to another until they finally end up on a winning machine. Some slot machine players may also try to predict the exact moment when the machine will end its next spin. Playing these patterns repeatedly can eventually lead to a big win.
When you play slots, whether online or offline, it is always important to read labels and play at casinos that accept wagers of real money. Progressive slot machines are now becoming more widely accepted by gaming establishments all over the world. This type of slots use random number generators, which determine the outcome of each spin without reference to what is inside the slot machine, therefore it is entirely dependent on the luck of the draw.

Agen slot machines are some of the most recognized slot machines in the world today. They are very similar to other slot machine games such as slots, video slot games, slot machine parlors and more. As with any slot machine game that you play on your own or in a location that you choose, there are certain tips that you should know if you would like to increase your odds of winning big time while playing these machines. One such tip is to try your luck at the Agen slot machine before you actually sit down at the machine to play. You may not have realized it, but by trying out the slot before hand, you can increase your chances of winning and reduce the possibility that you will lose everything that you stand on when you pull the lever.
The first tip to use when playing Agen slot online is to make sure that you know the exact payoff amounts on each of the four paylines. These include the red payline, the blue skyline, the green payline and the black payline. By knowing these payout amounts, you will be able to tell what machine you are going to play on so that you do not waste time or money trying to figure out which machine has the highest possible payoff. When you sit at the machine to play, you should make sure that you are using the correct denomination for the payline that you have been dealt.
The second tip to use when playing Agen slot online deposit plus is to know how much to bet. While this may sound obvious, it is surprising how many people do not place the proper amount of money on these slot machines. If you want to increase your chances of winning, then you should only place as much money on the lower payline that you have and leave the money on the higher payline alone. This way, you will be able to get off a good run every time you play and you will have a better chance of winning big jackpots.
The third tip to use when playing Agen slot deposit plus is to stay as calm as possible. This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people get upset and angry when they lose money on these machines. Instead of getting worked up, you should sit back and relax. If you lose, then you should start to get upset. However, if you keep your wits about you and don't let your emotions get the best of you, then you will be able to win more often and you will have more fun when you play.
The last tip to use when playing Agen slot online terrain is to make sure that you get the maximum amount of bonuses on each of the four paylines. This means that you should always play for the maximum time limit, win the maximum number of coins, and get the maximum number of bonus icons on every line. Although the maximum bonus amount is always lower when playing this slot game, it will still help you to have a good time while you are playing, and it is definitely worth taking the time to earn these bonuses.
When you play Agen slot online terrain, you will notice that there are two symbols displayed on the screen. These are the icon that shows you which bingo room you are in, and the icon that shows you that bonus has been issued for that particular room. You should always focus on winning these bonuses first, because you will eventually be rewarded for doing so. In order to get the maximum bonus that you can, you should play in the room with the highest payout. Once you have won the bonus, you can then transfer it to another room to increase your winnings. These are some of the tips that you should keep in mind when playing Agen slot online terbaik.

Casinos are not known for giving out big jackpots. Some would even say they are not able to afford such large amounts as they need for the development and expansion of their business. Well, this is all false. In fact, casinos make sure that no matter what jackpot they offer, there will always be someone who will be willing to challenge them for it. That is why casinos make sure that there are strict rules that casino goers must follow when they login to play on their favorite casino games online.
When you login osg777, don't believe all those things you hear about slots. Find out some of those common wrong notions about the slot machine gambling games. The heat of your own coin actually affects the result of your slot machine gaming experience. According to some group of individuals from the State, who had been playing slot machines every single day, but few years ago, the hot coin never really brought them any good luck. Most of these players who belonged to their respective states, told a similar story about how they never won any of the big jackpots that they expected.
Slots are gambling devices that rely heavily on luck on its outcome. If you think that by playing with different casino machines online, you would have an edge and be able to increase your chance of winning on these slot machines, you are absolutely wrong. Casino goers like you may have tried different gambling strategy but still ended up in losing their funds in the end. Sooner or later, when you login to play on different online slot machines, stick to the casino games you know and trust.
One of the reasons why some casino goers lose in the end is because they do not fully read and understand the rules of their particular casinos before they sit down in front of their computer to start playing their favorite casino games online. In this regard, there are several guides that can be downloaded in the internet that can teach you the real meaning of every word in the Slots game. Amongst these guides, the most famous and reliable source is the login OSG777 slot machine guide. This is the guide which actually explains to players the real meaning and rules of each and every icon displayed on their screens while they are playing their favorite slots games.
Some of the icons on your screen will tell you which card you are going to pick up. Some of these icons are for the straight bet while others indicate which button is for the soft slot. On the other hand, some of your icons will tell you what the odds of getting specific icons are. And the last icon will indicate the direction for your bet. With such graphical indications, players do not need to go through the confusing and complex rule book of their online casino before they sit in front of their computer and log in to play their favorite casino games online. In this respect, it can be said that the Login OSG777 online Asia huge slot machine guide is the best guide for gamblers in terms of helping them improve their chances of winning.
It is not necessary that to improve your chances of winning, you have to spend countless hours inside the virtual world of your online casino. The truth is that to win at the end of the day, one only needs to be familiar with the rules of the game that he is playing. This is the reason why a lot of players tend to lose their money in their very first day of playing these online casino games. This is the reason why many players prefer to go for the offline versions of these slot games rather than go for the online casino versions. However, if you really want to enjoy slot games and if you want to win at the end of the day, then it is advisable that you should go for the Login OSG777 guide.

The casino is a new addition to the list of online casinos in Las Vegas. You are basically allowed to play this casino via the use of your credit card. But in case you would like to play the slot machines in a more secure manner, you can get help from a guide that will give you tips on how to beat the odds. The Jokers is one of the hottest slots at the casino and many players find this one of the easiest slots to play. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you are on a budget and can't afford to spend a fortune playing slots, then the Jokers is the best option for you. There are two types of slots that you can choose to play at the Jokers; the progressive and the straight.
The slot game is considered as the most popular of all the slot games available on the internet. It is the closest in nature to land-based slots. If you are familiar with the mechanics of the land-based slots, then you will be able to understand what the slot game entails. When you play the joker games, you will not have the opportunity to make mistakes while playing the game. This is because there is a limit on the number of bets that you can make while playing the game.
When you place your bet, you will have the opportunity to win a jackpot of $10k. This means that the odds of winning are almost 0.1%. If you play the joker123 slot machines in a proper manner, you can almost ensure that you will hit the jackpot. There are many things that you need to keep in mind when playing the slot joker games online. One of the most important tips is to ensure that you read the instructions carefully before you start gambling. You need to learn about how the joker games work before you get into the act.
There are many people who do not understand why they should not indulge in these games when they are offering huge jackpots. In fact, many experts suggest that playing these slot machines is one of the best ways for you to earn some extra money. Playing these games online will allow you to experience the thrill of gambling without having to leave your home. In fact, you can play your favorite joker games all by yourself and you can earn money while you are enjoying your favorite activities.
You can find a number of online casinos that offer slot joker123 slot machines. However, you need to make sure that the online casino that you choose offers this slot machine for free. There are some online casinos that provide free slots but you might not be able to access them. You need to carefully look for online casinos that offer joker games for free so that you can enjoy your favorite slots games without spending any money.
Once you find a reliable joker game slot website, you can start playing the slot games on the website. You can also use the feature of the chat to interact with other players who are also using the same gambling platform as you. This will help you learn more about the different gaming platforms and choose the one that is suitable for you. In fact, it will also help you find a reliable online casino. After you have found the right online casino, you can start making money while enjoying the most enjoyable casino game.

If you have not heard of IDN Bola before, then you must be new to slots. This is one of those slot machines that gives out a big amount of money when it spins. However, with the odds being in favor of the house, it could also mean that you might not get your full winnings. For this reason, many people do not use this slot machine online because they do not know what it is all about.
What is IDN Bola? You may have heard of this slot machine online before and wondered what it is all about. Well, in this article, I will discuss what this is and why you should learn how to play it if you want to get a good return on your investment.
First of all, we should discuss what this is. It is a slot machine that has a lot of jackpots. The small ones are not worth the amount of money that you will win when this machine is spun. The odds of winning with this machine are relatively high. However, there are still some people who play with this machine because of its large jackpot. This means that if you want to get a good return for your money, you better play with this machine.
Now that you know what this is, you should probably learn how to play with it. There are three modes that this slot machine plays. The first mode is the regular bonus mode. With this mode, it will give you a small amount of coins for every single spin. The amount of coins that you will get depends on the jackpot that you would like to win. The normal amount of coins that you will be getting here is ten.
The second mode is the doubled bonus mode. This will give you double the amount of coins that you would normally get. The chances of you winning here are not really high, but they do exist. The chances of winning are about one in ten. The last mode is called the all-in-all mode. Here, you will get a single coin for every spin, and then you will end up winning the entire game.
If you would like to try out this slot machine, then it can be played at any of the casinos in Jamaica. However, since it is not yet legal in the casinos, you will have to look for other places where it can be played. You can try searching online for various casino reviews. There are a lot of slot machine guides available, and some of them may be able to help you get more information about this slot machine. Some of these guides also have tips and strategies on how to beat the machine. All in all, this is a fun game that can even bring you a huge amount of money if you know how to play it right.

To gamble is to risk but there are options to help cut back the risk.
Set your limit
First and foremost important is to remember, gambling is for fun! Do not gamble if you cannot afford to lose. Have a specific amount set aside for gambling and stick to it. Don't borrow money to gamble and don't ever go past your set limit.
Take Frequent breaks.
Don't attempt to play at a casino if you are under stress, depressed or troubled in any way. All distractions can cause you to lose your concentration and obviously result in losses you may not incur otherwise. Bright lights and loud noises are created to the casinos benefit. If you are gambling online, ensure that you are not going to be distracted and if you are, stop play until another time.
Slots Tips
Tip #1. Always play the max coin amount on progressive slots. It is best to play max regardless of whether the slot is progressive or not but how painful would it be to hit a jackpot on less than max bet?
Tip #2. Know the payout schedule before sitting down at a slot machine. Just like in poker, knowledge of the odds and payouts is crucial to developing a good strategy.
Tip #3. If you are not having luck at a particular machine, then move on to another one. Don't play it all night, hoping for it to finally pay off.
Tip #4. Always ensure your bet registers in the machine prior to pulling the bar or hitting spin, you will not be given the max coin winnings if the machine doesn't record a max coin bet being placed.
Tip #5. Never leave your machine until you are done playing. There is no worse feeling that someone taking the machine you were playing at because you went for a drink or to use the restroom. Make sure you take care of personal business prior to choosing your slot. There are waitresses for drinks.
Blackjack Tips
Tip #1 The most obvious is to ensure you know the rules of blackjack. It is always a good idea to have a strategy when you play blackjack. All winning systems are based on a basic strategy which consists of statistically speaking, there exists only one best action a player can take for each of the possible hands he can receive versus each possible upcard the dealer may have.
Tip #2 Learn about the house rules of each casino, the better the house rules, the more money you can expect to win in the long run. And yes, house rules do vary between casinos.
Tip #3 Learn the proper way to use your bankroll. There are statistically proven methods to keep control of your balance and the amount of bet you should place based on your total bankroll.
Tip #4Never drink alcohol when you are playing and always leave the game once you start to feel fatigued. You may start to make mistakes that you won't even notice.
Poker Tips
Tip #1 The best tip for poker playing is to read up on the game play, the variants of the game and ensure you know the rules of the game.
Tip #2 When you first start, it is a good idea to sit out and watch the other players prior to starting your game. Watch how they bet and how much they bet.
Tip #3 As you advance as a player, learn how to bluff. You must know the game well and bluff only when you feel secure that the other players will not call your bluff.
Tip #4 It is also a good idea to try to play against less skillfull opponents. Obviously, you will have a better chance at the game if you have more knowledge and experience.
Tip #5 Most important is what many of us have heard before, "Know when to hold 'em and when to fold "em". Mistakes are made quite often in poker when players want to stick it out with hands that have no value. That is a guaranteed loss. And stick with the no alcohol while playing rule.
Video Poker Tips
Tip #1 Just as with poker, you must know the game of video poker. There is a wide variant of video poker games, with each having a different set of winning card combinations. It is a good idea to pay attention to whether or not a machine uses one 52-deck of cards or more than one. The more cards there are, the less likely the player will win.
Tip #2 There is no such thing as a loose or tight video poker machine. They do not operate on reels like a slot machine, each card has an equal chance of showing up on any hand.
Tip #3 Always play the maximum number of credits allowed on progressive video poker, if you hit a royal flush, you will want that jackpot.
Tip #4 Until you are a master player, play at the lowest coin denomination amount possible. This will give you more cash to play on and learn as you go.
Tip #5 It can be very helpful to play a handheld video poker game (like you can get at any store with board games), this will also give you experience and a good knowledge of how the games will play.
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A slot online, also called a slot machine, slot games, pugs, bananas, poker machine/pnp, or fruit machines, is a gaming machine that generates a random game for its users. In playing slot online you can win real cash money or get freebies and bonuses from casinos and websites. In some cases the slot machine may be integrated with other gambling games, such as bingo, blackjack, roulette, etc. Online slot machines are available in most of the casino websites.
Classic slot machines are those that have a fixed number of pay lines. In slot online you will see a variety of pay lines. The object of playing classic slot machines is to predict which pay line will come up next. The random number generator (RNG) in slot online works in a similar fashion to the ones used in slot machines found in land-based casinos. The difference lies in the fact that online casinos use an internal system of random number generation that relies on mathematical algorithms and software to decide which numbers will come up next.
One example of a classic slot machine is the video slot. Here the player uses a video camera to see the ball rolling around the reels and hitting objects in front of it. The video slot machine uses very few, if any, of the traditional payout methods such as payoff through slot machines, spins at reels, or classic slots. Instead it makes all its money by providing a constant rate of payouts based on how well it predicts the paylines it sees on the screen. This type of machine runs on software called a random number generator (RNG). The generator decides what numbers will be drawn next after feeding it information about the number that is to be played, whether it is a classic slot machine number a video slot number, or a combination of both.
Online casinos that use online systems of play generally use what are called "probability generators" to determine what the payouts will be. The generator uses mathematical algorithms to identify the odds that casino goers will select particular slot machine outcomes. Once this information is fed into the random number generator, it produces an unpredictable set of jackpots and payouts. Some people call these "house advantages" and others simply refer to them as a lack of physical slots in a casino. It may seem that way, but the fact is that without these "virtual" slots a casino can't make any money at all.
You might think that since slot machine games on the Internet use purely mathematical calculations, they can't be affected by the casino games you might play. You'd be wrong. The Internet has opened up a whole new world of slot machine gambling, one that the physical casinos couldn't possibly have created or maintained. Traditional slot machine gambling online can be affected by online casino games as much as live casino games can.
In the same way that an individual may develop an immunity to computer viruses, individual players can become immune to slot machine results. This means that while an experienced slot player can likely beat the odds on a particular slot machine game, the same player won't win twice on the same machine. While it's possible for a human to calculate the probability of hitting two jackpots in one hour, the same formula can't be used to determine what the odds are for slot machine games on the Internet. This lack of mathematical expertise can be implemented into the online casinos anyway. By including random number generators in their online slot games, they can ensure that there is some element of unpredictability to the online slot games they offer to their members.

"King-high diamond flush," I said boldly as I laid my cards out on the table.
Despite my strong hand, my heart still thumped in my chest as I waited for the only other player in the hand to reveal his cards. Although my odds of winning were good, I was nervous. If my opponent had the ace...
"Ace-high diamond flush," my train of thought was disrupted and heart my sank. My opponent had the goddamn ace.
Unlike any other time I had played Texas Hold 'Em at a casino, I had no idea what to expect. See, I wasn't at a normal casino. I was at the Holy Grail Casino, where one does not gamble with money.
My opponent had wagered a finger, and I thought that that had been some colloquial way of making a small bet. Just as we frequently say "an arm and a leg" figuratively for an exorbitant cost, I thought that 'finger' was being used in the same context. I was proven brutally wrong when the dealer, without a hint of emotion, pulled a large knife out from some concealed location and chopped my pinky finger off.
I screamed, both in pain and disbelief. I had been expecting the most intense gambling experience of a life time, but I hadn't imagined anything of this magnitude.
I had finally found a form of gambling even I balked at.
I'll come clean and say it, I'm a compulsive gambler. I've had an enduring fixation on Lady Luck as early as I can remember. As a child, I loved making bets - even small and petty ones - with my peers.
When I was eighteen, and had my first job, I squandered a bigger portion of my very first paycheck than I care to admit on scratch-off lottery tickets.
With my addictive proclivities, I ignored the glaring net financial loss that this incurred, instead gravitating to the mere twenty dollars I did win with those tickets.
Now you can tell me that my gambling winnings are heavily outweighed by my losses over the years, and you'd be right. It's a stubborn fact that cannot be truthfully denied.
But it didn't matter to me. I was addicted to gambling. I was always convinced that the big, life-changing win I needed was right around the corner. It is this lifelong habit that has not only brought about a life of financial strain, but which, I fear, has brought about my imminent appointment with my own mortality.
You see, my gambling problem reached its zenith last year after I cajoled one of my poker friends, Dallas, into taking me to a secretive and high-stakes casino that he frequently spoke of, and this is as good a place as any to begin telling what happened.
"So, is this the night you're finally going to accede and tell me more about the mythical 'high stakes venue' you claim to frequent, Mr. Big Shot?" I asked my friend Dallas.
Dallas was a pro at gambling. At least, he swept the floor with the competition nine times out of ten and the backroom card games we frequented.
Dallas groaned loudly in the passager seat.
"Come on bro," I said doggedly, "you can't just set something up on a pedestal like this and not expect someone to persist."
"I don't know man. This isn't kitty shit. This is the big leagues." Dallas answered.
"I'm not a lightweight." I objected.
"No...but this is way more than anything we'd ever bet back there," he said, referring to our backroom games, one of which we had just left.
"This is the real shit. Hard-fucking-core. This is the most hardcore gambling around." Dallas continued.
"Like what, Russian Roulette?" I joked.
"Nah man." Dallas said cryptically.
"Look man, I give you rides to these games every week. You owe me." I was getting seriously annoyed at his reticence.
"Fine," Dallas groaned, exasperated.
I couldn't believe it. I had actually worn him down!
"But I'm warning you. This is serious shit." Dallas said sternly.
"I want to go." I said firmly.
Dallas reached into his wallet and handed me a medallion.
Upon inspection, I saw one side was affixed with the design of an ornate, bejeweled chalice with the words 'Holy Grail Casino' written above it. On the other side, written in elegant calligraphy was the phrase 'omnem marmora' - "all the marbles" in Latin.
This certainly bore the look of a ritzy and exclusionary place. I had a feeling I'd either win the jackpot of jackpots or end up homeless on the street. The reality would prove much worse than the latter.
Dallas was looking at me oddly, almost as if he was worried. But he could tell he wasn't going to be able to talk me out of it. I still hate him for his acquiescence to my pestering.
"When can we go?" I asked excitedly.
"I was planning to go tomorrow-," Dallas started.
"When I should I pick you up?" I interrupted.
"That's...not how we get there." Dallas answered.
"What-," I started, but it was Dallas' turn to interrupt.
"When you go to bed tomorrow night, write your full name on a piece of paper, then put it and the medallion in your pocket when you go to sleep."
I looked at him incredulously. Had he been fucking with me this whole time?
"Look...just trust me. Either do it or don't, but that's how you get there." Dallas said matter-of-factly.
I looked silently at the road as we neared the place where Dallas lived. Dallas seemed to be pensively looking out the window, as if he was debating whether or not he should have give me the medallion.
I dropped Dallas off without a word and raced home. I don't know why I was such a hurry - I guess I wanted to start waiting for tomorrow night as soon as possible.
After a torturous day of waiting, the next night finally came. Remembering Dallas' instructions, I wrote my full name on a slip of paper and placed it, along with the medallion, in the pockets of my sweatpants that I was wearing to bed for that purpose.
I could have sworn that I had heard my name being chanted as I drifted off to sleep, but the authenticity of those sounds is still ambiguous. What is not ambiguous is the fact that, shortly after falling asleep, I found myself in an opulent red-carpeted casino.
I was in a lobby of sorts, at least I think that's what it was. I was in a large, marble room with Greco-Roman style columns flanking a plush red carpet that led to two magnificent ebony doors, which boasted intricately carved ivory handles.
As I was soaking in the amazing luxurious sight, a man in a suit briskly approached me.
"You can't go to the floor dressed like that!" He admonished me, pointing to my sweatpants and white t-shirt.
"I'm sorry-," I began sluggishly, a bit confused by everything. Was I honestly expected to go to bed in a suit in order to gamble here?
"No worries sir," the man had a rather upper class accent, "we will get you outfitted here free of charge."
A short while later I was sporting a fine burgundy suit, a white dress shirt, and black loafers, and being led by the casino worker back to those grandiose doors. He stopped in front of them, held one of the doors open, and ushered me in.
"Enjoy your stay sir," he said as he closed the door behind me.
I took in the even more impressive sight that was the gambling floor. I stood at the top of a red-carpeted staircase with gilded railing, looking down at a large room. On the far end, the words 'Holy Grail Casino' were displayed prominently on the wall, illuminated by spotlights.
Like the lobby, a red carpet ran through the center, bisecting the impressive layout of games and tables. Interestingly, there didn't appear to be any slot machines- there seemed to be exclusively traditional games. Poker tables, blackjack tables, roulette wheels, and craps tables I all recognized.
Finally, I descended the stairs. The patrons and staff paid me little attention as I set foot on the floor. I briefly scanned the floor for Dallas but saw no saw no sign of him.
I shrugged and decided to jump into the games. All around me, finely dressed patrons were engrossed in their games, and others stood to the side, nursing cocktail glasses or puffing on cigars.
I had never had much of an affinity for roulette or craps, and I avoided blackjack like the plague (it's definitely rigged for the house). Accordingly, I quickly settled on poker.
After eyeing several tables I settled on a table occupied by just one patron - an uninterested old man in a black suit.
"Can I join here?" I asked.
The dealer replied affirmatively.
I sat down and noticed there were no chips in sight. I thought it had been odd that I hadn't received any, but I had just figured they would be given at the table. Curious, I asked.
"First time?" The dealer raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
The old man sighed, annoyed. What the hell? Shouldn't a patron at such a purportedly high-stakes venue be eager to have fresh meat?
"Well, the rules state that one's first game is one round of betting only." The dealer said in a monotone voice. No wonder old man was annoyed.
I nodded and sat down.
"But the chips-," I began to inquire.
"We don't use 'em here." The old man spoke for the first time.
Before I ask what we did use, the old man placed what would apparently be the sole bet of this hand: a finger.
Had I heard him right? He couldn't actually mean-
"Bet is one finger." The dealer said, interrupting my thoughts.
As I stated in the beginning, I assumed that 'a finger' was being used in the same figurative context that one often uses the term 'an arm and a leg.' I called the bet.
The cards were dealt, and I felt confident as I laid out the King-high flush I spoke of in the beginning. But then came the old man's ace-high flush, and then came the chop.
I screamed. To my shock, none of the other patrons even looked up from their games at the sound of my screams and the chop. Was this an ordinary occurrence?
Before I could get up from the table, the dealer also procured some sort of ointment and quickly dabbed some on the nub where my finger had been. The bleeding instantly stopped, and the pain eased, but I was having none of it. I got up from the table and began to run back to the doors. This was too much. I had to get out of here.
I heard a despaired howl coming from the direction of the roulette wheels as I made it back to the center of the floor, but didn't dare look back at the source. I stepped onto the carpet and set for the stairs when I nearly collided with Dallas.
"Hey you made it!" He said. "Oooh tough break with the finger," he indicated my hand.
"How have you never lost anything?!" I asked pointedly, barely resisting the urge to shake his shoulders.
"Well I have," Dallas smirked.
"You-you have all your digits." I sputtered.
"Well that's cause I won them back." He said.
"You can win them back?!" I was in disbelief.
"Of course, they'll reattach it if you win one."
I should have just cut my losses. I shouldn't have been swayed by temptation. But if you know the rabbit hole that is gambling, you'll know how much people put themselves in the hole vainly trying to win back a negligible loss, all the while turning that negligible loss into something substantial.
I was still weighing my options (stay or quit while still ahead) when a booming voice disrupted my deliberation.
"Attention floor! We have a class ten loser! Death!"
He couldn't actually mean-
Before I could make any kind of move, the patrons become a mob, and the wave people pushed Dallas and I to the center with them.
A man, who I noticed was already missing an arm, was on his knees sobbing. An emotionless casino dealer stood before him, holding a sword.
"Everyone c-cut y-your loss-losses," the man stuttered through sobs.
Before he could say anything else, the sobs were cut off by the slice of the sword, and the poor man's head hit the floor and tumbled, landing at my feet.

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The campaign for The Killers’ new LP Imploding The Mirage has already endured a delayed album, postponed tour and potential scandal against the dystopian backdrop of Covid-19. Here, the band’s Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci, manager Robert Reynolds, WME agent Kirk Sommer and EMI’s Clive Cawley reflect on a turbulent few months – and roll out plan B...
For one of Las Vegas’ favourite sons, Brandon Flowers plays his cards close to his chest. The Killers frontman has retained an enigmatic aura in the age of celebrity and social media, so having a fellow indie rock‘n’roller on hand to fill in the blanks feels like hitting the jackpot.
“Brandon is a workhorse,” enthuses Travis singer Fran Healy, Flowers’ one-time touring partner. “He’ll come off stage and go and run for an hour on a treadmill; then he’ll have a shower, go to the back of the tour bus and start songwriting until 3am. He doesn’t stop.”
“I don’t know that he’s any different to me, maybe no treadmills,” chuckles Flowers, confirming the veracity of the account. The rock superstar co-wrote Here With Me – the final single from the US band’s 2012 Battle Born LP – with Healy.
“We love Fran,” beams Flowers, speaking to Music Week from his home in Park City, Utah. “At our very first gig me and Dave Keuning, our guitarist, did an open mic night at a café and played a Travis song, Side, which I love. So getting to know him and becoming friendly has been really nice. It’s always good to be able to talk to someone who’s shared some of these experiences and has done it before you.”
This was meant to be The Killers’ year. A career-defining Glastonbury headline slot (see panel on p18) laid the groundwork for their biggest ever British tour (250,000 tickets sold in under two hours), while outstanding new album Imploding The Mirage looked set to enshrine their place in rock’s Champions League.
Alas, 2020 had other ideas. The group’s UK stadium run was put back 12 months, while the accompanying long-player finally saw the light of day last Friday – three months later than originally planned (thanks to you know what).
“It brought a lot of activity to a halt unfortunately,” sighs their agent, WME partner and head of music Kirk Sommer. “We had a complete 18-month plan with some additional stadium shows in other territories.”
Forecasting the chaos that was to come, Sommer moved quickly to secure alternative dates for 2021.
​

"I've noticed songs are coming easier as I get older."
- Brandon Flowers

“I had some early visibility as I saw what was happening in Asia and some other territories, and by the end of February or first week of March – while shows were still playing out in the UK – we were able to successfully hold the same markets,” he says. “I do not have a crystal ball and there is no science or data to support this will be a viable time period, but it’s as late as we could go in these venues and there are other tours getting confirmed and going on sale for the spring in the UK and in far worse impacted territories. So we remain very cautious, but have to remain hopeful as well. Demand remains very strong.”
Nevada-born Flowers, who turns 40 next year, upped sticks from Vegas a couple of years ago and has been relishing life in lockdown with wife Tana and their three sons. “I feel a little bit guilty,” he confides. “I’m so used to travelling so much and being away that I’m enjoying the extra time being in such close proximity to everybody. It’s been a nice experience.”
“I’m spending a lot more time in the kitchen,” chips in drummer Ronnie Vannucci, halfway through making a sandwich. “I don’t mind it so bad, except that I was really looking forward to sharing these songs and playing them for people and now it’s... a little different.”
On the album delay, The Killers manager Robert Reynolds says the decision was effectively taken out of their hands.
“It was hard, but there were two factors,” explains the Reynolds Management boss. “First, the album wasn’t completed. Part way through mixing we couldn’t get into the room with our mixer, who had a new baby. Things were done remotely and certain finishing touches had to be completed.
“Still, everyone hoped that Covid-19 would be resolved quickly. At first, the label hoped we could delay a few months and perhaps things could be different. When it became clear that performing live wouldn’t happen for a while, we just did our best to get this music finished and out to our fans as soon as possible.”
“People need music now more than ever,” asserts Flowers. “Music has always been a place that I go to for comfort or escape, or to feel like I’m not alone, and I think those attributes of music are still alive and kicking and people need them now.”
Even with the intervention of a global pandemic, EMI MD Clive Cawley says the campaign’s core objective remains the same – to deliver a sixth straight UK No.1 studio album for The Killers.
“It’s been a stop-start process since we launched a ticket pre-order bundle as far back as November 2019,” reflects Cawley. “With the album originally slated for a May release, it’s been somewhat of a challenge to maintain public and media interest and enthusiasm. Full credit to both the band for delivering an excellent record and our team working the project for never giving up and making sure we do it justice across every department. It’s just kept rolling along very nicely indeed.”
Lead single Caution (49,560 sales, OCC), which features former Fleetwood Mac star Lindsey Buckingham on guitar, got the latest Killers era off to a flying start, reaching No.1 on the US rock airplay chart. Three other tracks: Fire In Bone, My Own Soul’s Warning and the soaring Dying Breed were also put out ahead of time. “We released as many tracks before the album dropped as we could,” says Reynolds. “It’s hard to sit on songs you know are great.”
​

"The Killers have never wanted to headline rooms too big, too fast."
- Robert Reynolds, Reynolds Management

Recorded in studios in Utah, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Shawn Everett and Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado were drafted in to handle production duties, with other cameos including KD Lang, Weyes Blood and The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel on what is trumpeted as the band’s “most collaborative” record to date.
“I feel good about it,” nods Vannucci, who names Blowback and Running Towards A Place as personal highlights. “We went off track a little bit with the way we do things and arrived at a very pleasing spot,” he continues. “It was like going camping without knowing where you’re going, and then arriving at a really good camp spot.”
Every track is brimming with mass singalong potential, befitting the enormous stages on which they were intended to be played.
“We’ve always written a certain type of song that resonates with a lot of people,” notes Flowers. “We’ve never been shy about our admiration for the Rolling Stones, U2 and these bands that do that well and so I think it’s just part of our DNA. It’s definitely there and it’s something that you think about.”
Reynolds admits to keeping his initially sky-high expectations in check due to world events. “Now that we won’t have touring to support the new songs, I’m not sure what to expect,” he concedes. “Bands that aren’t using the biggest pop writers to dominate Top 40 radio rely on live performances to expose fans to their music. All of The Killers’ hits – and even non-hits that became fan favourites, like All These Things That I’ve Done – became such as a result of live performances. I can’t wait for us to get back on the road to do this album justice.”
Guitarist Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer stepped back from touring prior to the 2017/18 Wonderful Wonderful tour (“I wanted to have more of a normal life,” Keuning told MW last year). Though Stoermer contributed to Imploding The Mirage, the record is the group’s first to be made without Keuning’s involvement. However, Reynolds insists both founding members remain part of the band. “Extensive touring takes its toll,” he says. “Everyone is getting along fine and I expect that both of them will be more involved on the next album cycle.”
Seasoned festival headliners, The Killers are already a proven draw at the highest level, but their 10-date jaunt now set for 2021 – scheduled to kick off in Doncaster on May 25 and conclude at Manchester’s Emirates Old Trafford on June 12, prior to two outdoor shows in Ireland – will be their first UK stadium tour.
“The Killers have never wanted to headline rooms too big, too fast,” says Reynolds. “Other bands in similar positions would have played full stadium tours at an earlier point in their career. We were certain we would sell the shows out, and the band have been touring in the UK with consistent No.1 records for six albums now. The time felt right.”
“We also wanted to launch with something really big that would reverberate around the world,” adds Sommer. “We had already sold out Wembley Stadium on a previous campaign and sold out Hyde Park in record time to signify the beginning of the last campaign, which was immediately followed by a sold-out arena run.
“We put our toe in the water [in 2018] with a couple of outdoor regional shows in Swansea and Bolton that accompanied a larger European festival run to see how the band and the fans would like them. It was an easy way to try a couple before we overcommitted to something more extensive that we might not love. The thought was that, if they were a success, we would and could plot the whole next UK and Irish album run outdoors.”
The year took another unwelcome turn in the last week of July, when The Killers camp was rocked by lurid sexual misconduct accusations dating back more than a decade. In a blog, Chez Cherrie, an audio technician who worked on the band’s Day & Age tour for three weeks in 2009, described a misogynistic backstage culture and, most seriously, alleged hearing crew members boast of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in a dressing room at a Milwaukee venue.
​

"They are cementing themselves even deeper in the history books."
- Clive Cawley, EMI

​
A subsequent internal investigation deduced the claims were “an attempt at a joke or a ‘hazing’” by a front of house (FOH) engineer after interviewing crew and tracing the alleged victim, who confirmed “she did not experience, witness or hear about a sexual assault”. The group’s lawyers identified the FOH engineer, dismissed from the touring team in 2013, as a “problematic workmate” whose “pattern of poor management” and “series of sexist remarks and rude comments” had caused “great distress” to the complainant.
Reynolds tells Music Week that although the band were “shocked” by the allegations, they were determined to find out exactly what had happened. “It was important to us that we were thorough in our investigation – including reports from the venue, security, and depositions of crew members conducted by a separate law firm – transparent in our findings and also that we carefully considered what changes can be made going forward,” he explains.
“I’ve seen first-hand what bad men can do to a woman’s experience in this life,” says Flowers. “So if there was something like that going on in our camp, of course, I wanted to get to the bottom of it and thank God, it was proven to be a false alarm. I want our fans to know that we would never turn a blind eye to an assault. We respect women and we want everybody to know that.”
For a band whose two decades in the business have been devoid of scandal, the episode was a reality check.
“It changed our way of thinking about everything,” remarks Vannucci. “We are constantly trying to promote good living and responsibility; that is how we run the ship and we’re going to continue to do so – perhaps with a little bit more of a vision and an outlook for keeping people safe and making them feel safe when working under our umbrella.”
The Killers have directed their team to establish an off-site independent HR contact for future tours.
“If there is something positive to come out of this, we’re going to have a HR development on our next tour where if anybody feels scared or like they are being treated unfairly, or feel uncomfortable in any way, they’ll have a number to call,” says Flowers. “Hopefully that will make women especially feel more comfortable on a job that is predominantly men.”
“Touring and the music industry as a whole was really different 10 to 15 years ago and we hope we can be part of the change to make it more welcoming to everyone,” reflects Reynolds. “We all need to be vigilant that no one is ever made uncomfortable. Unlike other large companies, touring bands don’t have HR departments. For that reason, we decided to retain a third party HR company going forward. I’d suggest every band do this so that all crew members feel like they have a reliable third party to voice and investigate concerns.”
Imploding The Mirage’s predecessor, 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful (182,398 sales), gave the rockers a first No.1 LP in their homeland, although much of the attention was focused on ubiquitous first single The Man (345,592 sales) and its memorable music video. “I always associate the record with the tour and I loved the tour,” says Flowers. “I’m really proud of songs like Rut, The Man and Run For Cover, I feel like they are going to stick around.”
For Vannucci and Reynolds, the period conjures up mixed emotions. “That was an odd time for me personally,” recalls Vannucci. “My father died and I was fresh off the heels of a divorce when we were writing that record. I wouldn’t say it was dark, but there was definitely change in the air. But I really enjoyed the tour.”
“The Man was very successful — a great video and the first [US] alternative No.1 in 10 years since Read My Mind,” notes Reynolds. “Still, there are songs on that album which I don’t think enough people are familiar with. The campaign went well, but I wish music consumption today wasn’t so singles-oriented and people spent more time appreciating entire albums.”
Flowers, for one, hasn’t lost sight of the power of deeper cuts. “We still strive to create an overall listening experience or a feeling with an entire record,” he reveals. “You can’t really do that without having those types of songs and sometimes those are people’s favourites. When I was growing up, I didn’t necessarily know what the singles were when I bought an album. I gravitated towards what my heart gravitated towards.”
Lest we forget, The Killers sold records when bands really sold records – 2004 debut Hot Fuss has moved 2,333,888 copies in the UK, while sales of follow-ups Sam’s Town (2006) and Day & Age (2008) have also reached seven figures. The group has amassed over 15 million monthly Spotify listeners – outranking the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, The 1975, Muse and Radiohead – and continue to straddle the line between the old and new (albeit, just 16% of Wonderful Wonderful’s sales were from streaming). But it’s not a subject Flowers is losing any sleep over.
“It’s kind of out of our hands,” he shrugs. “It’s interesting to watch it happen – Napster was just making headlines when we were starting, so it was in its infancy and it seems like there is no going back. Sometimes I’ll get a statistic and hear how many people are streaming you per month and it’s amazing. But my heart goes out to a young band that have to prove their statistics before they get a certain amount of attention from their record label. I’m a lucky one because our foot was already in the door.”
Vannucci is hopeful rock music can re-establish itself as a mainstream force. “Everything is cyclical,” he says. “I really hope there is a resurgence.”
The band’s 2013 compilation Direct Hits (752,492 sales) remains ingrained in the albums chart, due in no small part to their cross-generational anthem Mr Brightside (3,212,710 sales!), incredibly still a fixture of the Top 100 almost 17 years after it was first released.
“The strength and depth of their hits over more than a decade clearly keeps winning over new audiences week in and week out,” observes EMI’s Cawley. “Stick it on, I’d be amazed if you skip any of those tracks and also if you manage to resist the urge to crack open an ice cold cider or foamy lager of choice to enjoy it with.”
With the globe in such a state of flux, questions about the future can seem misguided, but Flowers’ ambition is undimmed.
“We were just about to go on our biggest tour that we’ve ever gone on. I was really looking forward to that and I’m still looking forward to that,” he says. “But I just want to evolve and keep getting better. I have started to notice that songs are coming easier as I get older and as I write more and exercise these muscles that I’ve developed over the years. So I’m really looking forward to the next decade and it’s something that I’m definitely on top of.”
“I just trust that we’ll make better and better records,” offers Vannucci. “That is our objective right now – trying to do good with what we’re given.”
Sommer’s thoughts are naturally fixed on the live arena. “We have multiple global options held but refrained from putting anything further on sale to preserve the cash flow of our fans and ultimately be mindful of everyone’s health and safety,” he says. “Once we have more visibility and a better handle on timing we will be ready to go. The guys thrive in the live setting and I know they can’t wait to get back out there and perform some of these great new songs.”
“Every tour cycle has been more successful than the last,” finishes Reynolds, who already has one eye on LP number seven. “Nobody is ready to rest on any laurels,” he insists. “I can’t drop any names, but let me just say that one of the top three Killers songs ever written is on the next album. It’s the best of early Killers while staying fresh and reflecting their development as a band. I can’t wait for the world to hear it.”
EMI is bidding to keep both the band and Imploding The Mirage at the forefront of people’s minds through the end of the year, with a view to a second promotional push around the rescheduled stadium dates.
“There’s plenty of quality in there,” sums up Cawley. “It all feels very much like they are cementing themselves even deeper in the history books of greatness.”
Maybe 2020 will still be their year after all...
​

The Brightside of life: The Killers reflect on Glastonbury 2019

How The Killers defied the odds to conquer Glastonbury 2019...
It was one of the greatest nights of their careers, but The Killers’ second time around headlining Glastonbury was not always a surefire home run.
The band came into last year’s festival cold and off-cycle, with no new music to promote, having wrapped up their Wonderful Wonderful tour the previous autumn. But the chance to right the wrongs of their Pyramid Stage headline debut 12 years earlier was too good to turn down.
“I don’t recall exactly when it became a real possibility, but I had been gently petting at the potential opportunity for many months knowing the [50th] anniversary year would be forthcoming and we already had our own pure outdoor headline plan for 2020,” reveals WME’s Kirk Sommer. “I knew if given the opportunity it was something we could not refuse, it was one of the biggest and most credible televised music events in the world to spring-load the next album tour campaign with. There was a little healthy discourse around it given the unique timing but they ultimately said, ‘Let’s do it’.”
Brandon Flowers admits he took some persuading to get on board. “My first thought when we were asked was to say no,” he admits. “We were in the middle of downtime and it was a little nerve wracking to be thrown into it like that. But our people rallied behind the idea and them having that faith helped us and it ended up being a great experience.”
“We’re always doubting ourselves,” says Ronnie Vannucci. “We always want to be delivering something new and fresh and we were worried that, having been [in the UK] such a short time before Glastonbury, we were a little at risk of overstaying our welcome.”
The night was an unequivocal triumph, propelling Direct Hits 66-5 in the charts in the wake of the performance, with an immense 323.4% week-on-week sales increase. Ironically, after their 2007 bow was marred by sound issues, the 2019 gig was reportedly the loudest in the event’s history.
Both band members consider the show, which saw them joined by childhood idols Pet Shop Boys and Johnny Marr for the climactic encore, an all-time live highlight.
“I really believe it’s No.1,” grins Flowers. “Not to downplay any other experience along the way, but it’s such an iconic gig. I equate it with something like the Wimbledon final or the Super Bowl and I was so happy with the outcome. The crowd were great and we were a well-oiled machine. We were able to celebrate our career and pay a nod to a couple of our heroes and inspirations. Talk about the stars aligning, they did for us that night.”
An excerpt from Fran Healy's interview in the same issue:
I came to co-write The Killers single Here With Me with Brandon Flowers because…
“We hit it off many, many years ago. He’s amazing. He came to a show that we played with Oasis in Las Vegas and it was a very memorable show for him. All his band members were there, independently of him, before they were in The Killers. I did a solo record in 2010 and I asked Brandon if I could support him on his solo tour, just over in America, so I travelled about and slept in a bunk on his tour bus for a few days. One night, I came in at the back of the bus and went, ‘Oh shit, I’m sorry, man’. He was like, ‘No, come in. I’m writing this song’. He played the melody and I was like, ‘Can I make a suggestion?’ And then we wrote it together. I basically barged into his songwriting session and elbowed my way in.”
Music Week

Hey everyone! I've been a long-time viewer of this subreddit and am thankful to you all for some awesome ideas. I wanted to share some of the tavern games that I have created (and stolen) that have been the most fun for my groups to play. All of these have been tested with great success, but I am definitely open if you have any suggestions. Here is a collection of 14 of my favorite tavern games to try with your party!
Goblin's Eye

• A game of darts
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Players take turns rolling 1d20 and 1d6 both at once, three times. The d20 determines what number they hit. The d6 determines where on that number they hit. For example, a 1 is the outer ring (double), a 3 is the inner ring (triple), while a 6 is the bull's eye (50). First player to 301 wins the pot.

Twenty-One

• A game of blackjack
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Each player has access to the following dice: d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, and d4
• You pick which dice to roll and your objective is to get as close as you can to totaling 21 without going over. Once you roll a die, place it off to the side and it contributes to your total—you cannot use that die again this round. Players take turns rolling TWO dice of their choice, then continue taking turns rolling ONE die of their choice until everyone holds or busts.
• Closest to 21 without going over wins the pot.

Fruit Machine

• A simple game of one-shot slots
• Costs 5gp to play
• Players choose which slot machine to play on. The more difficult the chance of winning, the better the jackpot.
• You roll three of the same dice at the same time. If all the numbers match, you win. It’s that simple!
  • 3d4 = 1/16 chance, 80gp
  • 3d6 = 1/36 chance, 180gp
  • 3d8 = 1/64 chance, 320gp
  • 3d10 = 1/100 chance, 500gp
  • 3d12 = 1/144 chance, 720gp
  • 3d20 = 1/400 chance, 2000gp

Skeleton Slots

• An intermediate game of progressive slots
• Costs 2gp to play
• You roll dice one at a time starting with the d4. If you roll a 3 or below, you can stop and collect your winnings or move on to the d6. If you roll a 3 or below on the d6, then you can stop and collect your winnings or move on to the d8, and so on.
• The winnings get higher and higher as you go up, but your chances of winning also get harder. If at any time you roll a 4 or above you have to start over and play again.
• The d4 gives you 2gp, the d6 gives you 5gp, the d8 gives you 20gp, the d10 gives you 100gp, the d12 gives you 500gp, and the d20 gives you the jackpot of 2000gp.

Threes Away

• A simple dice game
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Players take turns rolling 5d6. All numbers on the die are face value except for 3's which are worth 0. Lowest score wins the pot.

Dead Eye Dice

• An intermediate dice game
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Each player starts their hand with a d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, and d4. Each player rolls all of them to start. Any time you roll a 1 on any die you need to discard your “best” die (d20, then d12, etc.). If you get more than one 1 then you discard that many dice starting from the “best” die. Last person with dice remaining in their hand wins the pot.

Crown & Anchor

• A simple betting game
• Players can put any amount of gold on a grid numbered 1 through 6. They then roll 3d6 one time.
• If 1 die matches their bet number, they win 1X the original bet. If 2 dice match their bet number, they win 2X the original bet. If 3 dice match their bet number, they win 3X the original bet. If no die match their bet number, they lose the original bet.

Dice Poker

• A game of Texas Hold’em
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• You pick two different dice and roll in secret from one another. At this time, players place their initial bets or fold. House rolls a d6, d8, and d10 one at a time. Raises and folds may occur after each roll.
• The player with the best hand according to the below rankings wins the pot.
  • Five of a kind
  • Four of a kind
  • Full house (three of one, two of another)
  • Straight (five in a row)
  • Three of a kind
  • Two pair (two of one, two of another)
  • One pair
  • High number

Critter Races

• An intermediate betting game
• Players can put any amount of gold on any of the five critters
• There is a racetrack that is 13 spaces long with the 14th space being the finish line. Each player and DM can take control of a critter (to make it easier) and rolls simultaneously for all five critters on each turn.
• Fox= 2d4 (average speed of 5, max of 8)
  • 1/1= 50% chance
• Dog= d4+2 (average of 4.5, max of 6)
  • 4/1= 20% chance
• Rat= d8-1 (average of 3.5, max of 7)
  • 11/2= 15% chance
• Pig= d12/2 rounded up (average of 3.5, max of 6)
  • 12/1= 7.5% chance
• Badger= d6 (average of 3.5, max of 6)
  • 12/1= 7.5% chance
• If two critters reach the finish line on the same turn, then the one who had more movement remaining wins. If two critters reach the finish line with the same amount of movement remaining, then they roll off to determine the winner.
• Betting odds coordinate with how likely a critter is going to win. For every value B that you bet, you will win A plus the return of your stake.
• After a few races, the animal trainers will put their animals in their cages to rest for the day.

Secret Shaker

• A game of strategy
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Everyone rolls a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 in secret.
• The higher the number the better. Each player has one reroll that they can (don’t have to) use anytime in the match where they reroll ALL of their remaining dice (even the good numbers).
• Each round all players take one die they rolled and move it to the middle of the table with their hand covering it. All players reveal and the highest number wins the round. A tie is won by the smaller sided die. A still tie is resolved by rerolling those dice. This is done until all six dice are used up and the person with the most points wins the pot.

Wheel of Misfortune

• A game of roulette
• Players can put any amount of gold in any of the following locations or a combination of the following locations on the roulette table:
  • Odd or even (2:1 chance)
  • Corner bet (5:1 chance)
  • Split bet (10:1 chance)
  • Straight up (20:1 chance)
• For every value B that you bet, you will win A.

Cheat

• An intermediate game of bluffing
• Each player puts an ante into the pot and DM matches
• Each player starts with five d6 and one cup, which is used to conceal rolls from all other players. Begin by rolling one die to determine who goes first.
• After looking at the numbers they’ve rolled, the first player offers an opening bid to the group. For example, if you have two 2s under your cup, you could start there—or you could predict, with some mathematical certainty, that there are a total of “three 2s” among all the dice on the table, including your own. The next player must then bid either a higher total amount of dice “four 2s” or keep the same amount but move to a higher number “three 3s”, bluffing as needed.
• If you think a competitor is offering up an unlikely bid, call them out. All players must then lift their cups to reveal their respective rolls. If the bid in question cannot be calculated with the dice displayed, the bidder must forfeit one die. The same punishment applies to the accuser, however, if the bid in question can be made from the existing dice. Play continues until only one person has dice remaining, who wins the pot.

Dagger Juggling

• Dexterity challenge
• Need to succeed ability check with DC 10 for 2 daggers, DC 15 for 3 daggers, and DC 20 for 4 daggers with bets on how long the juggler can keep going. Failed throws cause 1d6 non-lethal damage.

Arm Wrestling

• Strength challenge
• Beating your opponent in a STR ability check moves your arm one step closer to victory. You need three steps to knock their arm on the table. Rolling a natural 20 counts as two steps.

I hope you have fun playing these tavern games with your groups, and let me know how they work in your sessions! Game on.

Just something I've been pondering, wanted to share my thoughts and open them up to questions and criticism.
I remember the first time I IVed a drug, it was heroin I believe, good stuff. I remember being surprised by the apparent delay in onset of effect.
Now, when you think IV, you don't normally think "delay" right? You think, instantaneous effect! Right? Instant peak! That's what I expected.
But as far as I can tell this simply isn't the reality of it, and when I think on it, I'm quite sure I've never had an IV shot, out of thousands perhaps, that didn't take at least a minute or two to really get rolling. Usually they seem to reach peak effect around 5-10 min after. Later still. Again, not quite as instant as instant gets. TV mislead me once again? Naturally.
I'm sure this might come as a surprise if you've never IVed, but yeah, it's a fact, IV is not as fast as the movies make it look, not by a solid 30 sec at minimum. After all, it makes sense--just because the drug is in your blood stream doesn't mean it doesn't still need some time to diffuse and find its actual receptor targets.
(Speaking of which, that's an interesting prospect to consider, how is it indeed that these billions of billions of drug molecules are able to diffuse and find their targets so goshdarn quickly? It almost feels as if it's simply a matter of the drug molecules sinking into a state of lower and lower energy as they mesh with proteins, membranes etc.) It amazes me out of what must be millions of possible configurations the little particles might land in, they happen to hit the target consistently time after time as if there no other way it could go..
I've noticed that in fact, inhalation might often be slightly faster than IV, in terms of time to peak anyway.. When you hit a bong for instance, you often feel your vision blur slightly within a second or two of exhaling....ostensively that blurring being caused by the cannabinoid hitting their marks (idk exactly what causes it). It's definitely close between the two.
Clearly the classic explanation of "IV is just really fast" doesn't completely hold water. There must be a more sophisticated explanation right? Well, FWIW this is what I came up with to explain what, if not the speed of onset, pure and simple, makes IV so extreme?
First I decided, it's obvious that there is a difference between hitting a small peak fast, (as with smoking/inhalation) and hitting a larger peak somewhat slower (as IV typically does).
With inhalation, there is something of a fundamental limit on the amount consumed per cycle--you can only inhale so much gas before your lungs run out of volume.
Indeed is seems that in general, inhalation is limited to maybe 20mg tops of substance inhaled per breath/cycle (20mg would be a really BIG hit undoubtedly) More realistically, maybe 3-10mg is the average for the weight of matter in a normal puff on a cig, pull on a joint, etc.
Now tbh, for that above figure, I'm just using my own anecdotal data here, measured with my fairly accurate scale (has a 1-2mg MOE roughly) but I suscept it should be fine as I'd bet this parameter likely doesn't vary much for other people....
On the other hand, with IV you have considerably more ability to dose large amounts in one cycle. While a vaped hit of meth is maybe 10mg tops, a user might inject in a single shot up to 500mg or more in extreme cases. Clearly you can scale up the dose with IV in a way that's not possible with inhalation.
With IV, the higher peak is what makes up for the slightly slower if not roughly equal onset speeds between the two ROAs. With small doses the difference between ROAs is negligible, but with increasing amounts the Victor becomes clear.... IV wins once we get over more than what you can smoke in about the same amount of time. After that going higher and higher in dose, inhalation becomes exponentially slower than IV. .
Is this it though? I thought not. Since the first time I tried it, I'd always noticed that there is a strange sort of extra behavioral effect you get from IV which is much less present for other ROAs...
It's hard to explain, but to put it in layman's terms, IV just always seemed to have some kind of "cool" or "thrilling" edge that the others clearly lacked.
To be clear this "thrill factor" isn't just my observation, indeed it's a well worn trend that when a person tries IV, there is a definite propensity for them to become kind of obsessed with it (this happened to me somewhat) and the preparatory ritual IV entails.
The placebo effect for one can be especially pronounced with IV, so much so that doses of plain sugar water can registered in the brain as if it's truly heroin for a few minutes (provided that's what the user expects to be getting at). It's a very strange sensation I've been party to myself more than once; an unpleasant surprise that fools you into thinking you got the real deal, when you actually just got scammed, only a minute later for it to dawn on you that the high isn't real but "imagined. "
What's the cause of this? Why does it seem so particularly extreme as placebos go? And is it truly just "imagined" when the effect you feel at first seems uncanny to that of the actual drug? I thought on this and it occurred to me that in a sense, the effect wasn't "imagined" at all... Actually, the only difference was that my brain had triggered the effect on its own, organically...
Now that had me thinking... Is that effect still there with actual drug as well? Does it simply merge with the larger drug effect like 2 waves, adding a slight "all natural" boost from my brain's reward centers celebrating the apparent administration of the drug before the actual effect hits?
What an interesting thought. I decided this seemed like a plausible explanation, that the placebo effect I felt wasn't something that appeared in the absence of a real drug, but instead was there the whole time, real drug or no. This certainly changed my understanding of the placebo effect and gave me new reverence for its power, which I'd thought was much less impressively before.
Which brings us to the final piece of the puzzle. One day I remembered what I had heard about how dopamine works to predict Reward in this Stanford lecture on YouTube.
According to the lecture, there are dopaminergic cells, in the mid rain I believe, , that respond to a cue in way that predicts,, not to the size of the reward expected, as much as the chance of receiving the reward. So this might be a light for the cue, food foe the reward, for example.
According to this framework which seems to be pretty well founded, these neurons respond most strongly to odds close to 50:50. The closer to even the odds are of winning, IOW, the bigger the surge these cells make. And while this surge isn't a "reward signal" in the proper sense, is definitely has a modulating effect on that signal and others involved in decision making and focus.
Thus means that if a reward is expected and the subject gets it close to 100% of the time, these neurons stop responding at more than their baseline signal. They respond with a bit more signal to lower odds like. 0.1:1 than sure odds, and as I said the signal peaks at 1:1 and goes down from there.
Clearly these cells are programming a kind of learning function. By tracking the level of risk, they communicate to the organism how much attention is worth devoting here. For example if your chances of winning a race are 99%, you likely wo t be very stressed by the prospect cause a win is all but sure. Similarly with odds of 0,01, it's a safe bet you'll lose and so same as before there is little stress. But at a 50:50 split, the outcome is at its least predictable and more than ever,, each little bit of work is likely to count. Thus why these odds are what these neurons respond best to -- the ratio is like a cue to your brain to pay attention and focus when it'll make the most difference.
(This is also thus why a huge number of video games, apps, card games, slot machines etc are focused on maximizing this perceived 1:1 risk.)
OK but back to IV though... What does this have to do it? Everything actually. The reason is that IV is unique on yet another front - - on top of everything else, IV also requires the highest degree of skill of any ROA (save one of the crazier, more obscure ROAs such as intracerebroventricular or intrathecal) and more, it's the easiest of them to mess up by a long shot.
If I handed any one of you a syringe and told you to hit a vein, even if I happened to pick someone with skills and experience relevant here, there would still be a fair chance (~20-30%) they'd mess up and miss some of the shot, a higher chance (~30-60%) that they'd make at least 1 or 2 other more minor mistakes
Without skills and experience, your chances of hitting the vein on the first try would plummet from ~70% to 5~20%, depending on the vein in question.
For a beginner, you're almost bound to fail at IV, again and again and again and again and several more times before getting it right even once, and then it might require hundreds more shots before you've had enough practice so that u actually hit the vein on the 1st try even half of the time...
Frankly I've had near a decade of practice, and I've taken formal courses on phlebotomy, yet I still mess up at least 5-15% of shots ls to some extent, though Iat least rarely fail to get it in at some point...
But u get the point. More than anything, IV is freakin' HARD right? It's like going from just swallowing a pill to performing a whole mini operation on yourself, one handed at that.
So you can see now, how this is ostensibly the last and one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. This is where that extra dopamine rush comes from, the simple fact that your chances of actually hitting the vein are incredibly less secured than when hitting a pipe or snorting a line.
This means that IV in effect becomes a game within a drug administration routine, and this "game" is the source of the extra addictive pull.
So in essence it works almost like a slot machine in that you can take shot after shot, every few hours, and each time you might utterly fail, the needle getting clogged with blood, or maybe you do 5 sticks in a row without getting blood, maybe you literally spend an hour trying to get it in and can't and finally give up (done thus, an intensely frustrating experience).... OR!!! You MIGHT hit the jackpot with a FLAWLESS first stick that flashes blood without so much as a needle readjustment, followed by not a drop of solution wasted anywhere but in the vein, and not only that, as extra reward for achieving this momentous task, you'll get a super strong rush to boot.
Now, I think once you take this into consideration, it becomes way more clear why it actually is that IV has so much more addictive pull than other ROAs.
Plez lmk your thoughts. Thanks for reading.
Some sources for further reading:
glascherlab.org/modelbased-learning
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2876988/