The hole

23 May 2017

By Frank Scoblete

There are some days and nights, I mean, there are just some days and nights when nothing goes right and the things that go wrong go awfully wrong. I am sure that those of you who are avid casino gamblers have experienced those days and/or nights of horror. I know I have. You begin in a hole, and you end in a deeper hole.

Let’s take a look at one. We’ll use poor Karl as our example.

Karl speaks: “I have been playing casino games for 20 years, and most of the time I have fun. I’ve had winning nights and losing nights but usually the good events, say a good dinner with friends, a good show, can make up for any losses I experience. I am careful with my money.

“But one day and night, that’s right both a day and the same night, I fell into a hole from the very start of the trip and nothing could get me out.

“I went to the craps table first. I am a good bettor at that game, although I will admit that I sometimes make high house-edge bets. I couldn’t get ahead. The very first shooter rolled a 3, a 2 and a 12. That was three losses in a row for me on the come-out pass line rolls. So I reverted to the don’t pass, and the shooter then rolled a 7, a 7 and another 7 — three sevens in a row! I had now lost six bets in a row, and the shooter hadn’t even established a point number.

“I did get up on the 4, and since I was betting the don’t I laid the odds. The shooter immediately hit the darn four! So I switched over to the ‘right’ side and the shooter established a 6 as his point. That was great as the 6 and 8 are the numbers that hit the most after the 7. I put the full odds on the number. I had a good shot to win this bet. The shooter immediately rolled a 7 and I lost the 6 and a new shooter took the dice.

“That new shooter was me. I rolled a 3 then my point became the 5. I put odds behind my bet. I also placed the 6, 8 and 9. I now had a 50-50 shot of winning a bet on every roll. I sevened out on the next roll.

“I played a couple more shooters, won a bet or two, but I was in a hole right off the bat.

“So I went over to blackjack and lost eight hands in a row, two of them were double downs where the dealer was supposed to be weak and I had an 11.

“I thought, ‘The heck with blackjack,’ and I went to roulette. I like to bet either red or black as doing this usually means you don’t have really long losing streaks. I bet red; black hit. I decided to go with black; red hit. I stayed with black; red hit. I gave it one more try. I bet black and red won again. So I bet red; black hit. So I bet red again; black hit. I left the roulette table. I had not won a single bet.

“So I went back to craps. Lost. Went to blackjack again. Lost. Went to roulette. Lost. Went to mini-baccarat; lost fifteen out of nineteen hands.

“You might want to know how I know all my wins and losses – I write them down so I never fool myself about winning or losing. I couldn’t fool myself today. It was downhill all the way.

“Slot machines were next. Same thing. I won here and there but the overall course was down and down even deeper.

“I made the biggest mistake now. I increased my bets to get my money back quicker. Never do that. I kept losing and now the losses were greater since I was betting much more than before.

“This continued right into the evening. I would like to say that I hit a hot streak and although I won here and there, I was consistently losing. I didn’t even go to dinner that night. I just went back to my room and went to sleep. It was my worst trip to the casinos in 20 years, and I hope I never have one of those trips again. Actually, I pray that I will never have a trip like that.”

[Read Frank Scoblete’s books I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack, I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps and Confessions of a Wayward Catholic! All available from Amazon.com, on Kindle and electronic media, at Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores. Visit frank’s web site at www.frankscoblete.com