One Foot Towards the Door

6 October 2024

By Frank Scoblete

I am going to share with you a very simple concept that I stumbled upon early in my career as a casino gaming columnist. I now call it “my foot facing the door.”

Okay, what does this mean precisely? “Foot facing the door.”

When I am playing I am always ready to leave the table if things are not going right, or don’t seem to be going right, or if I am uncomfortable for any reason whatsoever. Leaving is my key ability and neither the casino, nor the dealer, nor anything can stop me from going if I want to go.

That is my free will in potential action or in actual action. I am not one of these casino gamblers who needs encouragement to quit playing if things just aren’t happening or I don’t feel as if they will happen or anything just throws me, even a little. “Time to go, Frank,” I’ll say to myself and off I go.

Now, I do know that none of my feelings have anything to do with the facts of playing.

If I feel something isn’t right I am guessing in the cool light of day the game hasn’t changed, the odds haven’t changed, the world at large (probably) hasn’t changed. But something in me has changed. I listen to that something and scoot away from the game.

I try never to argue with myself. The inner me is smarter than the outer me, of that I am sure. Over the years when that inner me tells me something it is usually right.

That little voice talking inside your head should be listened to if it has given you good advice over the years. That is for all intents and circumstances the real reality you should harken to. Nothing else.

I know many players have difficulty deciding whether to stay or leave the game. I did at one time many decades ago. No more. My ears are fully opened and that inner voice speaks loud to me.

And if I do leave, what happens? Nothing. There is no great insight into the day’s events, just feelings. But to me, those feelings count. I would rather leave a game early than late.

Okay, you say, you leave the game and soon after that another player goes on a tear; a craps shooter shooting the covers off the dice. And? Nothing. That was not a prearranged event. Had I been there it might not have happened. Nothing is fated to happen except the game plays itself out based on a random probability.

I do not buy into stories of great or awful things happening when I am not at the table. They are not set in time; they just happen. Sometimes I am there; often I am not there.

Right now, all across the gambling world dice players are having good rolls; blackjack dealers are busting their hands and some people are happy and, yes, some people are truly miserable.

Should you listen to that voice in your head? Why not?

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores.