A few years ago I took my cousin Steve to Las Vegas with me. It was his first trip to a casino. Before we left I taught him how to play video poker. I explained that you get a bonus for the royal flush when you play five coins and I reminded him always play five coins on each hand.

After we checked into our room we went down to the casino to play. Steve headed for the video poker machines and I went to play craps. About 45 minutes later Steve came running over to the craps table to tell me he had just hit a royal flush. I knew he was playing the quarter machines which paid $1,000 for the royal. I said, "Congratulations, your trip is paid for."

He then told me he had only been playing one coin at a time and instead of collecting $1,000 he won $62.50. I told him that it was a shame that he lost out on the $1,000 and he said, "That's ok, I'll just hit another royal."

For the next three days he played video poker for about 14 hours a day. He never got another on royal and he went home broke. He found out that hitting the royal was as easy. He was just lucky to hit one so early in the trip.

Casinos would love to have a player win on their first trip. It makes them think that winning is easy and encourages them to go back. Did you win on your fist visit to the casino? Share your story in the forum Topic of the Week.