My Video Poker Story

Around 15 years ago (when I was somewhere between 18-21) I went on a Caribbean cruise with my family. I’ve since been on several cruises, and  one of my favorite aspects of a cruise is  gambling in the Royal Caribbean casino.

Before I got into playing blackjack, I played double down video poker in the casino. As I recall, you could play between one and four quarters per hand. In the version I played, if you won a hand, you could choose to double down. The computer would show a card and you would select one of 4 face down cards to try and beat it. If you won, you doubled your winning and could choose to double down again or collect your winnings.

One evening during dinner, I wanted to try my luck in the casino. My family was still eating dinner, but I had an itch to gamble. I told them I was running to the restroom, but instead, I went to the casino. After a few minutes at the machine, I won a hand and doubled down. I won again. This continued for quite some time, until I walked away from the machine with hundreds of dollars in quarters.

When I returned to the dinner table, I was hunched over carrying several buckets filled with my quarter winnings. The story goes that my parents thought I was ill because I was hunched over carrying these buckets filled with quarters and I had been gone for much longer than a standard trip to the restroom. I figured that had I not brought all of these quarters back with me, nobody would have believed the story.

Later that night, I tried my luck again and hit an even larger number than I had at dinner. After more than doubling the dinner winnings one one try, I attempted to double down again and lost. I still walked away from the machines way ahead after winning earlier in the evening.

This story doesn’t really relate to domain names, except for one thing. When negotiating with a prospective buyer, I am frequently trying my luck. I sometimes reject an offer hoping the buyer will come up with a larger offer. Sometimes a larger offer is made, and sometimes the buyer disappears. It’s a part of the domain business. The difference between negotiating on a domain sale and playing double down video poker is that even if the negotiation fails, I will still own a great domain name. With video poker, once a hand has gone bust, it’s all over.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. So the first words I wanted to write were, “Good story”; and then I scrolled down and saw brand here had already done just that. LOL.

  2. >”My family was still eating dinner, but I had an itch to gamble. I told them I was running to the restroom, but instead, I went to the casino.”

    …Dude… 😀

  3. It’s the power of “no”. By submitting to the first offer that comes across, one loses the advantage to define the value of their domain – which, incidentally, can only be sold once.

    Personally, I don’t gamble, so you won’t see me at the craps tables or roulette during NamesCon 😛

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