Coming from behind

8 January 2019

By Frank Scoblete

There have been great team and individual comebacks in sports and politics. Who can forget the Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees in 2004 when the Red Sox were behind three games to none? All the Yankees had to do was win one game. Instead the Red Sox won four games in a row, defeating the Yankees in the division series. That could be the greatest comeback in baseball history.

Or how about Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) defeating 7-to-1 favorite Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title in 1964? Or Muhammad Ali’s defeat of George Foreman who was an eight to one favorite in 1974? The two men Ali defeated were considered unbeatable monsters.

Or Richard Nixon who pulled out of politics in 1962, after losing the governorship of California, angrily saying to the press, “You will not have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He was quitting politics. Then he came back in 1968 and won the Presidency.

Comebacks are wonderful stories. Many of us have small comebacks here and there; some of us may even have monumental comebacks in our lives. Casino slot play has had some fascinating comebacks, at least to the players involved. Here are some:

JEAN: I was down and almost out. I had $21 left, which was just seven spins of the wheel. I had started with $500 but the day just went down and down and down. I won small on some spins but I was having an awful day and then I hit a major jackpot, about $1,600 and about five spins later I hit for $800. I quit right then and there and went to have a drink. I was so far behind I thought this was going to be a disastrous trip. It turned out to be a wonderful trip. I’ve never had another comeback like that.

MARY: The first night in the casino I lost. It was not a big loss and I figured with a little luck I could win the next day and be ahead. Nope. Wasn’t to happen. I got clobbered in the morning. I was so far behind I even thought about stopping play and not gambling the rest of that day and also the next day, which was my last day of my vacation. But I had come to play, right? So I took off during the day and played at night and guess what? I got killed again!

Now I had a major decision to make. Do I play tomorrow or not? Well here is how I decided it. I go to the casinos about three times a year and I thought, “If I get killed again I’ll just not go on one of my trips.” That idea soothed me.

The next day was magical. I didn’t win a huge jackpot or anything but I kept winning consistently. By the afternoon I was only a little behind. My night session really went well. I seemed to win every other spin. I wound up with the biggest overall win of any vacation I ever took. Instead of cancelling my next casino visit, I added a fourth trip to my year!

KEVIN: I had lost money at blackjack and then at roulette and then at mini-baccarat, and I was feeling really down. So I decided to spend the rest of my money, which wasn’t a lot let me tell you, on the slots. What the heck; if I was gonna lose I was gonna lose. So I played slots. I was going back and forth. I never thought I would make up what I had lost at those three table games but at least I was having some play. Oh, and it was a quarter machine too.

But then it happened. I hit a pretty good pay. That made up for my loss at roulette. Maybe ten minutes later I hit the same line and now I had made more money than I lost at blackjack. Two more hits in the next twenty minutes and I was ahead; not by a lot but I was ahead! Now do I quit of try to get a bigger win, make this a huge comeback. Should I quit or stay.

I took a small amount of my money – so I still had a win – and decided why not try to add to my win? And I did. I hit two pretty big jackpots and I was way ahead. I quit then and there. It was an amazing comeback for me. I’ll never forget it.

Well, folks, there you have it; some terrific comebacks by your ordinary slot players. Okay, so none of them are Muhammad Ali or Richard Nixon or the Boston Red Sox but in their personal lives these players have a great memory of a great time when they took luck by the neck and wrung out all they could get from it.

Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. Frank Scoblete’s latest books are Confessions of a Wayward Catholic; I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps and I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack. Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.