THE SOCIAL CARD GAME
The gaming tables in Reno are a social gathering place where people gamble as they converse with each other and the dealers. This atmosphere was not to my liking. I think I much prefer fast action and an impersonal approach to placing a wager.
I ate dinner at the Nugget Casino then wandered over to the blackjack tables – five-dollar minimum and a five hundred dollar max per bet. Sunday evening and most of the crowd had gone home.
The dealers were all seasoned veterans. Not one of them had less than eleven years experience in the job. They were quick and managed to keep a running line of patter going with the players without missing a beat.
I wasn’t actually counting cards. Casinos don’t like card counters. Let’s just say that I was keeping track of the cards as they came out of the deck. Well, maybe I was doing a little counting. Tens through aces count as a minus one and deuces through sixes count as a plus one. The player has an advantage when the count is positive.
After three hours, I had turned a sixty-dollar buy-in into a two hundred and twenty dollar stack of chips. I was hoping to see three hundred in front of me before midnight, but then I caught myself making mistakes. Maybe I was just tired or maybe I’d had a bit much to drink. I colored out with two hundred and went to my room for a little nap.
Monday morning, I was back at the blackjack table at seven o’clock. An attractive Asian girl sat down beside me and struck up a conversation. “I haven’t been doing well here today,” she said.
“Sorry to hear that,” I replied.
“I just want to get a hundred dollars tonight.”
I threw a five-dollar chip into the betting circle on the table and said, “Five dollars is about my limit.”
She played a couple more hands and changed tables. I can’t be absolutely sure that she was a prostitute. I certainly hope that she wasn’t offended by my counter offer.
As could be expected, one of the dealers miscounted the hands and collected my winning bet. Fortunately, I was awake and sober and called him on it before he could scoop the cards. The pit boss came over to the table and okayed the correction.
The cards were not running well this morning, but I managed eek out another thirty dollars profit in a couple of hours.
On the way home, I stopped at Chuckers Casino in Fernley and dropped off a twenty-dollar win bet on Ohio State against Florida. Kiss that money goodbye.
Final tally:
Five hours at the Blackjack table - $230.00 (tips included)
Minus buy-in - (60.00)
Hotel room - (62.95)
Dinner with wine - (13.52) (including tip)
Idiotic bet at the sport book - (20.00)
Liquor consumed while gambling - no charge
Pissing off a hooker - priceless
