Once we were done with our tourism, I had reserved the last day for gambling. I was prepared to gamble my heart out that evening but I didn’t want to put a lot of money on a stake because I knew that The House Always Wins in the end. I was only looking for entertainment. Slot machines bored me. I wanted to play the table. I had never played the table before and was fascinated by the movie 21 which was based on a true story of an MIT professor who had built a BlackJack team of young students and trained them to beat the casinos using card counting techniques. I knew that it is easy to get carried away when you’re on the table so I set a target of 200$. That was the maximum I was willing to lose that evening. So I withdrew 200$ from the ATM and looked for a dollar table. Dollar tables are hard to find because the minimum bet is only 1$. Casinos don’t really make money on those tables. They are merely used as baits by the not so popular casinos to attract players. I was able to find one at the other end of The Strip but since I had never played BlackJack before, the first thing I needed was to learn rules of the game. So while I was walking to the casino, I googled and read BlackJack rules on my phone and fifteen minutes later, I was already betting chips on the BlackJack table!
It all started with one dollar bets. There were six players on the table and most of them were like me. Cheap-asses. Alcohol was free. Casinos want you to drink your money away you see? Two hours on the table and a few beers down, I was still even on the money.
“Not bad for a first timer eh? I just learned BlackJack on my phone and I’m still holding up!” I thought.
Another hour passed by and I was down by 50 now.
“Well, I still have 150 left. I can still carry on for a few more hours.” I was unperturbed.
Another hour passed by and I was now down by 100.
“This is not working. I need to increase the bets to recover my lost money quickly.” I thought.
It was the same mindset that had drowned me in the stock market but beers had taken my rationale away. You can see now why casinos serve free alcohol!
Now I started placing bigger bets of 5$ each. Every other player on the table was still playing 1$ bets. Thirty minutes later I had bankrupted myself. I had nothing in my pocket to play further so I left the table in sheer disappointment and started going back to my room.
“But it’s only 11 pm yet and life starts in Vegas at night. What am I going to do in my room anyway? I don’t know when I’m going to visit Vegas again so why not play some more? I mean I lost a fortune in the stock market and here I am mourning a loss of just 200$?” I was thinking in my head.
So I went to the ATM again to withdraw more money and realized I had only 50$ left in my bank account! I couldn’t use my credit card because casinos don’t take credit cards, exactly to avoid people drowning themselves into debt. The temptation to go back to the table was so high that I called the customer service of my bank.
“I need 1000$ right now. Is it possible to do a balance transfer from my credit card to my bank account?” I asked.
“Yes, but there will be a 6% APR for the transaction.” He said.
I didn’t think 6% was that bad an interest rate so I went ahead with the transaction.
“Sounds good. Please go ahead approve the transaction.” I said. A few minutes later, I was loaded with a 1000$!
I went back to the casino and sat on the same table. Luckily my seat was still vacant.
“Chips for 200 please.” I said and handed over two 100$ bills to the dealer. I was all set for the next round.
Initially, I started with 1$ bets again but it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to recover my 200 with those small bets. So I increased the bets to 10 now. I had started getting attention from single dollar betters now.
Two hours later, I had blown up the entire 200. The rate of loss was going proportionate with the amount in each bet!
“Chips for 300 please.” I handed over the bills to the dealer.
After another two hours later, 300 was gone too. Now everyone was sympathizing with me. They had just seen 700 burnt into ashes, that too on a 1$ table! The more I lost, the more it made me angry so, in an impulse, I put the entire money on the table!
“Chips for 500 please.”
Everyone was now convinced that there was a rookie on the table who was determined to bankrupt himself that night.
I was now placing bets of 25$ each. The other players thought it was too crazy to bet 25 on a 1$ dollar table.
“Alright. I’m outta here. I’m gonna watch his game now.” One of the players said and pulled his chips closer to him.
By now, even the dealer had become sympathetic to me.
Not that I lost all bets. I was winning too which kept my hope alive and I kept betting. I was still able to hold up for another couple of hours even with those big bets but eventually, when I was down to the last 100, it was a do or die.
“Here!” I said and put all the remaining chips on the table.
“Here comes the big one! I’m gonna hold my bet.” One of the players said. Everyone else followed him and stopped playing waiting for the outcome with bated breath.
The dealer then distributed the cards. I kept drawing cards taking a big chance and luckily reached 20.
“Finally! This bet is a win!” I sighed with relief.
And the dealer opened his cards. It was BlackJack!
The entire table sighed in unison. My head dropped with both hands on my face and I left the table in disappointment and disgrace. That night at the table had cost me 1200$.
I was still mourning my loss last night when I woke up the next day at noon. Our flight was later in the evening so we decided to go out for lunch and take a last good walk on The Strip. While we were walking out of the hotel, we passed through the casino floor and I saw a chip lying on the floor from a distance.
“Ah…An inebriated and upset loser like me must have dropped his 1$ chip.” I thought and ignored the chip and continued walking.
“But what if it is not a 1$ chip? What if it’s a 100$ chip?” I thought a few seconds later and turned back to check.
It was a 500$ chip!
“Oh My God! This is big money!” I picked the chip and exclaimed in disbelief.
This was the first time it had happened to me that I found a dropped chip on the floor. I wasn’t sure what the rules were for finding a dropped chip so while continue walking outside, I googled for the rules. There were conflicting opinions on the internet but most agreed that the chip is the property of the casino and must be returned back. They have cameras that they called Eye in the Sky everywhere and it would be easy for them to trace the big amount.
When I realized I can be in trouble for keeping the chip, I went back to the casino floor and asked the lady behind the Help Desk.
“Ma’am I found this chip on the floor and I’m not sure what to do with it? Please suggest.” I said handing over the chip to her.
“Oh My God! You’re so honest! Most people won’t even try to return the chip! But I’m not sure what to suggest so let me speak to the security supervisor.” She replied and called the supervisor on her walkie talkie. A few seconds later, she turned towards me and said.
“Well, the supervisor says he isn’t sure either. You can probably keep it.”
“No Ma’am. I don’t want any troubles so I want an absolute confirmation if it is okay to keep it.” I insisted.
So she took me to the casino floor manager who looked at the chip, then looked at me and said.
“It’s all yours gentleman.”
I was absolutely thrilled!
“Did I just make up for my lost money last night?” I was ecstatic with the thought.
I thanked him and gave him a 20$ bill as a courtesy.
Richa, who had been watching the drama unfolding so far came up to me and asked.
“So what do you plan to do with this money?”
“BlackJack! I’m going to recover my 1200 using this 500!” I replied without hesitation.
Once we finished our lunch, she continued her walk on The Strip and I came back to the hotel to play BlackJack on the same 1$ table.
“Please break this chip for me.” I requested the dealer handing over the 500$ chip to her. She broke it into all smaller denomination.
I didn’t last very long this time. Within an hour I was down 200.
“This table is cursed!” I thought.
“That’s it! I’m not playing anymore. I’m done!” Finally, I had attained the wisdom and cashed my remaining chips.
I still consoled myself to have saved 300 from gambling it away. We flew back to New Jersey that evening.
Richa’s return flight to India was from JFK so she left the next morning and I got busy with my weekend chores.
An hour later, I heard a knock at my door.
When I opened the door, it was a girl from the next apartment.
“That black BMW is yours right?” She asked.
“Yes, it indeed is.” I replied.
“Okay. Did you lose your wallet?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“I saw a man picking up a wallet that was dropped by your BMW. I thought it was yours so I came to inform you.” She said and left.
I was now alarmed. I ran back to my room and looked for my wallet. It was nowhere. I searched the entire apartment in minutes but it was nowhere to be seen. By now I was convinced that she was talking about my wallet.
“Cash, Credit cards, Driver’s license, Social Security…everything was in there!” I was horrified.
I ran to the apartment of the girl and knocked at her door.
“Who picked up my wallet? Where does he live?” I asked her in horror when she opened the door.
“I saw him going that way. I think he lives in that apartment.” She replied pointing to an apartment opposite to hers.
“How does he look like?” I asked.
“I think he was Spanish. Looked like Mexican to me.”
So I ran to the other apartment and knocked at the door. A Mexican guy opened the door. I immediately knew it was him.
“Dude, the wallet that you just picked up by the car, it’s mine.” I said in a tough tone.
“Which wallet? I didn’t find any wallet.” He replied nervously in his broken English.
“Listen, that girl over there…she saw you picking up the wallet. Look, I don’t want to call cops on you. You can keep the money. I don’t care about the money but just hand over my wallet. There is a lot of other important stuff in the wallet.” I reaffirmed.
He could sense a trouble brewing up. So he went inside and brought my wallet.
“I didn’t want to keep it. I didn’t know whose wallet it was so I was waiting for someone to show up. I don’t want any trouble.” He said nervously.
“Really? You could have easily seen my apartment number on my driver’s license in there to contact me. I’m hardly a few steps away from your apartment! Moreover, you just lied!” I said while opening my wallet to check if everything was intact.
“And where is the money?!?” I yelled when I saw cash missing from the wallet.
“I swear I didn’t find any cash in there. Someone must have picked your wallet and taken the money before I picked it.” He said.
I knew he was lying a mouthful but I was relieved that I had my important documents back.
“Look, you don’t have to lie. I was going to give you money anyway. But what you did was not right. And don’t worry I’m not going to call cops on you.” I said and left his apartment.
After thanking the girl to inform me about my wallet, when I went to my apartment I realized that there was 300$ in my wallet that I had saved from the 500$ chip in the casino in Vegas!
“The way it came, the way it left. After all, it was rightfully not my money anyway.” I thought and took a sigh.
