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by Shawn Tinling
In casino gambling, sometimes even the most knowledgable
players turn to blind luck to make it through their
day. Of course, luck can never be relied on; either
things will go the right way for you or they won't.
The great thing about casino gambling is that luck
has to be with you for only a moment to make a difference
in what could've easily been a bad day.
Roulette is, in my opinion, the best game to
play where you can turn blind luck into a great
casino story to tell your friends.
Recently, my family dragged me down to the casinos
of Atlantic City. I'm not going to lie to you -
I wasn't feeling very lucky and would've much preferred
to stay home. Since I was 'forced' to go, my goal
was to go into hiding, play slow and steady, kill
time and grind it out until my folks were ready
to come back home. I thought I had everything covered.
Well, I spent a little time at the $10 craps
tables, but mostly I played $20 pai gow and then
some $15 blackjack. I couldn't for the life of me
get anything going and instead of treading water,
I was bleeding money the whole afternoon. After
about 4 hours I was down $435, which could've been
worse but it was obviously far from the result I
wanted.
I was close to broke and ready to go home as
I met back up with my family. Suddenly I had a crazy
idea. "I have to do one more thing before we go.
I've gotta go to the roulette table." My family
gave me an indifferent shrug and followed, as they're
mostly slot players and all table games are Greek
to them.
The plan was to throw down a few more bucks and
try to get back all the money I lost in one shot.
I went over the math in my head as I walked over
to the roulette table. I was down $435, so I knew
a $40 bet at 11-1 could get me back to even. Hopefully.
I found a roulette table and gave $40 to the
dealer, to which she handed me 8 red nickels. I
reached and put all the chips on '28 Street'. (It's
a three number bet - either 28, 29 or 30 would win
for me.) The dealer spun, I stood near the roulette
wheel, and prayed!
The ball slowed down and bounced around the wheel
for several tense seconds as I rooted for one of
my three numbers. It popped into number 2 and stayed
there for a moment - and then dropped into the number
two slots over.
Number 28, black, even.
I went absolutely crazy! I screamed and pumped
my fists, hollering and running up and down the
aisle as the dealer paid me $440 on my $40 bet -
eleven to one - and the floor supervisor tried in
vain to get me to calm down. My family was in as
much disbelief as I was that I had such a dramatic
comeback.
Just like that, I got my money back! I tipped
the dealer $5 leaving me with exactly as much money
as I came with. I'll take a draw over a loss any
day! On that note, we left and headed home. Dinner
that night was on me.
It'd be irresponsible of me to recommend you
try something like this on a regular basis. American
roulette has a house edge of 5.26%, so over the
long run this move will lose you more money than
you'll win - theoretically 5.26% of what you bet.
Roulette's not the best game to play if you plan
on sticking around the table for hours and hours
because of this house advantage. For a single spin,
however, it's pretty much a given that you're relying
on luck, so house edge really doesn't matter as
much.
If you do choose to try this out the next time
your back's against the wall, here are some recommendations:
It's better to bet in a way so that you get just
enough to be even for the day as opposed to trying
to hit a home run, so to speak. If you're down $350,
try betting $10 on a number straight up for a possible
35-1, or $45 on a corner (4-number) bet which would
pay 8-1. Sure, you could win more if you bet, say,
$25 straight up on one number and it hits, but the
odds of it happening are a bit on the long side,
and you'd be down that much more money if the play
didn't hit.
Consider this type of play a last resort. If
it doesn't work the first time, don't try it again!
If you do, you could easily be caught in the trap
of chasing your money, where your bets would get
bigger and bigger with the hopes of hitting just
once. Rarely does a bank-chasing situation have
a happy ending.
A blind-luck roulette play could very well get
you through your next day at the casino, but here
hoping it doesn't come down to all that.
Until next time, take care and good luck in the
casino!
About the author: Shawn Tinling runs 21 Nights
Entertainment, a casino game rental and events company
in New York City -- www.21nights.com
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