That one Night in the Casino...
People who know me in meat-space have heard this story about a million times. That's about how many moneys I wish I won. Back when I had first started my full time job, I developed a bit of a problem with gambling. It was fun, it was edgy, it gave me an adrenaline rush. Plus, the banter with the dealers was nice.
Not the casino I went to. Image sourced from Pixabay, credit to Mariamichelle.
In reality, I just wanted the company of strangers.
So one night, I finish work before my buddy, and we were going to go and have a meal, and gamble at the one, and only, local casino. I wander over, a $50 note in hand, and nothing but Friday night on my mind.
I start by playing Pontoon. Pontoon is like Blackjack, except there are no tens in the deck, only picture cards. Also, you get paid straight away if you hit 21. You get 21, you win, none of those rubbish standoffs like in Blackjack.
I have a few excellent hands, and win a few "bonuses", drawing 6,7,8 for the 21 a few times.
I've got a few hundred dollars in chips, and call my buddy "We're fed for tonight."
He arrives, and we partake of the then famous $1 hotdogs from the Casino's sports bar (which I ironically remember as having no TV screens.) We then wander back out to play more Pontoon, and each start with $50 again.
We play for a while, and get up to $50. We wander away for more drinks. We go back, move to a higher stakes table. A bet is placed for "perfect pairs" - ie, two cards of the same suit, and number, Jack Spades, Plus Jack, Spades - it comes up and the payoff is 25:1. $250 in seconds.
On we play, until we've got a few thousand dollars between us. We're on an excellent streak. We wander to the bar, and ask for the most expensive whisky that there is under the roof. They confirm the price. We show them our chips.
The bartender scurries away to places unknown. He returns with a bottle that I can't recall the look of. He refuses to service it with ice. "You only get it neat."
I remember it being smooth, and potent. We return to gambling. A higher stakes table. We do well again. We drink some more. We decide... "this streak has to end... we shouldn't play any more cards."
Swivel chairs at the table, we spin around to see a roulette table. "Roulette! Perfect."
Stumbling towards the roulette table, we colour up, and my buddy asks "What do we bet on?"
I enthusiastically reply? "Fucking prime numbers!".
Image source: Pixabay. Credit to Stux
A roulette wheel here in Australia goes to 36, and has zero (some have double zero) . My buddy asks me "What the fuck is a prime number?".
It's clear that I'm the nerd. We cover all the prime numbers, and bewildered, the dealer spins after the standard "No more bets."
My friend learned what a prime number was that night. We also learned a new type of colour of casino chip, prior to leaving the venue with pockets full of money and a birthday party at a nightclub to go to. The memories of the events at the nightclubs are reconstructed from eye-witness accounts, and I'm told we ordered an entire bar length of shots, and paid for at least 10 people behind us in the line to enter, because the door staff said "sorry, we don't have any change for $100".
The real kicker? Waking up the next day with $43.75 in my wallet. This night only cost me $7.25.
The best stories are the ones that have to be re-told by friends who were there to witness it!
And at times, be constructed by the consistent accounts of multiple other individuals.
I have had many nights like this at the cas, I used to love going there because 8 out of 10 times I would get blind drunk and it either wouldn't cost me anything or maybe $50 bucks on a average night.
Black jack is a good game when your going for broke, walk up to the $50 dollar table and within a few mins you know if your night is over or just beginning again. Have done this many times, win 2 or 3 quick rounds then I have $200 to kick on with.
Another game I used to play lots was craps, this was the game which I found to be the most reliable. You can walk up to it with $50 bucks and will be there 4 hours later with $50 bucks and 12 glasses of spirits in the belly.
Roulette is designed so the majority of the time you come out worse off.
Damn I miss those nights, have not been in a long time now.
It doesn't have the same allure as it once did. The house plays every hand, the house always wins ;)
Yeah I heard they got rid of the craps table, greedy buggers
WooHoo!!! You broke even!
It could have gone wrong at many different times...I'm glad it didn't.
I love that this gif lands on a prime number
Quite a story indeed. If you knew back then about BTC and invested, boy oh boy :)
The sad thing is I had rig mining doge at home at the time. I could have gotten so many R9 270x GPUs (they were amazing for mining back then!)
I'd only be tempted by the Texas hold 'em.
Love that game.
That’s epic. And in Australia’s worst casino to boot. Even the Alice Springs casino is better than Adelaides.
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I was a huge NLH player in my day. I played mostly in small clubs or online with up to 4 simultaneous tables. I won far more often than lost (very disciplined), and was net profitable by a good amount. However, it became too much of a drain on my time and mental energy, so I hung up the cards. I've lost my confidence to go with my instincts and bet boldly as I used to. Now, I'm a fish... or am I??
Very cool read.