Streaks

4 February 2016

By John Grochowski

Streaks are part of life at the gaming table, but there’s no tendency for a hot streak to stay hot.

Still, the hot streaks are fun. Here are a few streaks readers have shared in the last few months:

Hayden: My wife and I went to a riverboat with about $300 between us. She went off to play slots, but I decided to invest my first $100 at a $5 blackjack table. Fortunately for me, I was hot from the start.

I won my first bet, then a double down on the second, and I upped my bet to $10. I won again, and again. There were some double downs and blackjacks in there, and before I knew it I was betting $25, then $35, then $50. I had a blackjack at $50, and my $100 had grown to more than $500.

That was kind of my nervous point, though. I’d never bet $50 before, and that’s as far as my nerves would let me go. I kept the bet at $50, lost, and took my bet right back down to $5.

A couple of hands later, my wife stopped by, and her eyes popped at all the chips. I colored up well over $400, and we went to lunch, and I amazed her with my winning streak. She said, “It’s a good thing I didn’t see you betting $50. I’d have fainted. If you were lucky.”


Sarah: This was pretty cool, at mini-baccarat. When I bought in, this guy at the end of the table says, “You ever play this game before, sweetheart?” I told him yes, but please don’t call me sweetheart. He grumbled something – nothing good – and he said, “All you need to know is to bet the banker. That’s where the best odds are.

I bit my tongue, but I decided I was going to bet player. I really had played before and I know the game pretty well, and the odds between banker and player aren’t all that different. I was lucky enough to get on a roll right from the start. Player won my first four hands, and I heard a lot of grumbles about lucky beginners, lucky women, lucky this and that with a few obscenities there and there.

Banker won a hand, but then player won a couple of more. Banker won again, then like four more players in a row. I was winning money, he wasn’t, and he wasn’t pleased, either. He picked up his chips, and as he left, he told me, “Next time you see me playing, play somewhere else, would you sweetheart?”


Gord: The funniest streak I ever saw came at blackjack when the dealer, Tom, busted eight times in a row. By the third time, he was saying, “Bust again. We’re giving away the money.”
A couple of players started playing along, standing on hands they’d normally hit. One woman stood on 14 against a 9, and said, “Who am I to argue with fate?” Tom busted, and we started joking about leaving it all up to him. The guy at first base put out a bet for Tom, and said it was a sacrifice to the bust god.

On the seventh hand, Tom had a 10 up, and everybody stood, including four with bust cards. He had a 4 down, drew a 10 and busted again. You never heard such cheers. Even the pit supervisor was laughing so hard she cried. After eight in a row, Tom dealt himself a pat hand and the streak was over, but it was fun while it lasted.

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