Go Big or Go Home
My wife has
a friend who only gets in touch when she wins at the casino.
“Won $6000 today!”
Or when she
gets free stuff.
“Free dinner and a show last week,
COMPED AGAIN!”
She only plays
expensive machines, and always the maximum.
“Go big or go home!”
She never loses
and always gets free stuff.
She lives in
a crappy home mortgaged to the hilt, drives a crappy car, works sporadically and
her husband is on disability (but not really disabled).
She never
loses, but she is a loser.
I’ve noticed
this about many gamblers, they never lose, and yet they are big losers in life.
I remember a
lady at work whose life was the AC casinos and Church run bingo.
“How did you do at AC this weekend?”
“I won $1500.”
“Wow!
That’s great,”
“Then I lost $1900…I probably should
have quit, but the room was free and we were comped for dinner.”
At least she
was honest, but to me her room and dinner cost $400.
Gambling is infectious,
you know the odds are against you, and yet gamblers keep betting, hoping for
that big adrenaline boosting win.
Mrs. C and I
hit the casino every now and then. We
are not gamblers. I know that because we
never win, real gamblers always claim to win.
We play penny slots, and at .20 a bet, I can breeze through $20 in about
ten minutes. That is why we both have a
$40 limit. We always lose, but then we
don’t have a system.
Gamblers,
the ones who never lose, always have a system.
“Wait for a machine that has been
cold, the odds will catch up, and skip to a new machine if you are not hitting.”
Great
advise, except odds are odds…they do not change on a machine. It’s like flipping a penny and waiting for a
penny that is due to come up heads, or changing to a new penny if you keep
losing flips. Penny is a penny, a
machine is a machine, odds are odds.
Anyway; Mrs. C and I are not gamblers as we bet small,
quit when we lose our allotted funds, and we never win. We go small, but own our home.
Actually, we
did win once, or Mrs. C did.
Mrs. C
played a penny machine for hours and only lost about $15…she was hot. I hit big on video poker and was only down
$8.
“OK, let’s go while we are up.” (Well down $23, but up because we had not
lost our allotted $80.)”
“Wait, I’ve earned $10 in casino
money.”
“Great, take it and let’s go.”
“You can’t just take it, you have to
bet it. I’m going to bet on the dollar
machine, I’ve always wanted to try one.”
Mrs. C took
her $10 credit and put it in the dollar machine, she then bet the max…$5 and
hit spin.
“Crap, that’s $5!”
My head spun, I could not imagine betting that much on a single spin.
“Relax, it’s casino money, and you
know what they say, Go big or go home.”
She lost the
$5, then won $8, then lost $3.
“You bet the $10, cash out the $5
that is left and let’s go.”
“One more spin.”
Understand
the only thing we knew about this machine was whether you won or lost, what
fruit alignment payed off, we had no idea.
The machine
spun our last $5 and a whole lot of similar fruit lined up in several ways.
“That has to be good.”
Bells rang,
lights blinked and numbers kept running up.
It seemed to last for about 5 minutes.
When it was done she had a credit of $475!
“Holy crap! You hit big on the last
spin.”
“Wait, let’s just play until we get
to $1000 or $400, whatever comes first.”
I pushed the
cash out button, grabbed the $475 ticket and hollered,
“Bull shit, start the
car, we are outta here.”
For the one
and only time, we went big and went home.
I'm not a gambler either. I take $200 (birthday money.) If I win, great. If I don't. Oh well. Win or lose, I always have gas money to get home and a buck 99 for the Denny's grand slam breakfast. :) - My sister is very lucky and wins big. She won $10k at one machine and after the men and black showed up and did their thing, some kid that was sweeping floors told her to go over and play the Wheel of Fortune machine. She did and won an additional $1,200. He got a great tip that night.
ReplyDeleteI've never gambled (well, not inb a casino, although one might say I'm gambling every time I drive in Houston).
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents used to. My grandmother said they never gambled to win, but rather to have fun.
With as many addictions as I already have, I'd probably be better off starting heroin rather than waiting for that big $475 payoff.
I don't generally gamble with money. I used to play Bingo with a friend. I never won, she ALWAYS did. I cannot explain it.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! That's what I would have done. I've been to the casino here in Adelaide only once, bet my $40, won $100 and quit while I was ahead.
ReplyDeleteMy ex#1 would have kept betting and not come home until his pockets were empty. He did once win big and came home very late, woke me up and showered the bed with money saying that was my share.
Good plan...cash out and run. Occasionally we buy a lottery ticket $5 plus $1 encore. Once in a while we win a free ticket.
ReplyDeleteYou were oh so lucky to win and leave with winnings. The second part is wisdom.
ReplyDeleteI’m not a gambler either. Have played the slots a few times but no really big wins. A couple who are friends of mine aren’t gamblers either, but the wife seems to be lucky. Most times when they’ve played slots she ends up winning enough, even a little more, to cover their expenses.
ReplyDeleteI know a few people like this myself...I suspect they stretch the truth from time to time. It is virtually impossible to cover expenses and a little more all the time. What they really mean (in my opinion) is they only spent and or lost what ever limit they set themselves. These people are not losers like the GBOGH people.
DeleteI will only play the slot machines that are in the most traffic areas of the casino in Vegas My theory is they want people to witness winning machines to encourage playing. However, I've never been up more than about $15.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gambler either. If the odds were in your favor, there wouldn't be as many large, very nice casinos. Once, when I was 16, I went to the dog races in Mexico. (If you're old enough to reach the betting window, you're old enough to gamble in Mexico.) Long story short, my 2 dogs came in first and second, and the results board blinked and read there was a $25,000 payout on this race. Holy crap, I thought. I just won $25,000! I sprinted to the payout window, only to find about 500 other people ahead of me. I didn't realize we all had to split that $25K. *sigh* So much for my BIG win.
ReplyDeleteI know this gal. Yep.
ReplyDeleteWe don't gamble. We have a nice home and I drive a new car. I'm not a loser, but I've seen people act just like this.
Have a fabulous day, Joe. ☺
I bet once, in Reno. Walked into a grocery store, and there was an overlooked quarter in the slot machine coin up. I played it, and won four quarters. I played and lost them, one at a time. I went grocery shopping and left.
ReplyDeleteNot a big gambler here. Last time in a casino, I played my $5.00 limit in the penny slots and left with $6.25. About enough winnings for a bottle of water. I do play the local Ar. Lottery weekly, only because I use the same numbers and know the day I don't, they will come in. I'm trapped.
ReplyDeleteSweetie and i don't go to the casino. The one time we did, like you, we set a small limit and when we lost it we left.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Boss is wealthy, everything he has is paid for, and he goes to the casinos and comes out with thousands of dollars every single time. It's truly astounding.
My dad was a gambling man so we often took weekend drives to Las Vegas. (He never bet grocery or rent money & couldn't understand people who did. He also had a problem with people who complained about losing. He felt that you willingly paid money to see a movie or a play or when you rent something & that gambling was essentially no different.)
ReplyDeleteLet the record show that the crappy home my nonworking husband and I live in is completely paid for, and so are the crappy car and the crappy garage we park it in!
ReplyDeleteGood decision, Joe. I know because I've NOT done that.
ReplyDeleteI don't gamble much, either. But the last time I was in Vegas (in 1989), I gambled and won big. I married my husband.
ReplyDelete