February 2020 Vegas trip

[MDawg]

Friday got a little hectic at the tables. By the time I got back to the room I had energy and enthusiasm for sex, but not for firing up my laptop and posting anything on the 'net. So here goes:

I started at about 11am, somewhat early because it was not a day when I go to the gym (I go every other day). I had already been up since 5am for the stock market, and it wasn't the greatest day in the market either (I'm holding a pretty large AMZN trade position at the moment in the red through the weekend - I hold a lot of long term AMZN and other tech company shares that are up an insane amount of money, but I also trade extra shares of certain stocks including AMZN on a regular basis). I had a sell order for these shares at 2123 and of course on that last leg up it hit only as high as 2122.7 or so, and then gradually wound down to below 2100. But, all will be well next week on this trade, not to worry.

Anyway, back to gambling. Of the casino variety.

By about halfway through the second Baccarat shoe I was up about 3K. For some reason I wanted to get to more like 5K to make it an even 10K won this week at this casino, but instead, I started losing. Next thing you know I had lost the entire 8K marker I had pulled. I did a 2K call bet on the Bank, won. I paid it back, did another 2K bet with these chips, won. I was thinking I should have just let the 4K ride, and then I would have been close to even again (minus the 2K owed on the call bet), but I didn't. Then I played that 4K on another hand a bit later, lost. Another 1K call bet, lost. I had them print it to ten. So now I had $9000. in front of me and owed the casino $9000. for this session.

I played some more, but by the end of the second shoe or maybe at some point in the third shoe, don't quite recall, I had lost that second marker too. Now down $18,000. I asked the pit boss for another $10K and he said no. I did a double take - I have a fifty K line, so what was he getting at? Turned out, what he was getting at was a joke.

"I just gave you one."

True. But I lost it.

"I'll tell you what. I'll give you another one, but you have to promise to give it back. And no crazy betting - this is a crazy shoe."

He was right. This wasn't the best shoe - no discernible pattern, no runs to mention, no streaks. I should not have been betting big into such a shoe.

But then my luck changed. I played a total of seven shoes, and honestly, I did not bet crazily any longer. My average bet was 500 for the rest of the day, and bit by bit I won back all of what I had lost, tipping out about 500. along the way, and paid off all the markers.

I was getting a bit stuck at this point when I had about $25K in front of me:

(I had to sneak that picture because the day before when I tried to take a pic of the board to show what a great shoe I had played, this particular pit boss, the same one who had joked with me today about the markers, had quietly politely mentioned that "Aren't no photos allowed in a casino?) Most pit bosses don't care if you snap a picture of your own chips or the board as long as no humans are in the pic, but this one does. (By the way - that No Smoking sign - that is by my request. I hate having smokers at my table.)

The end stack of chips when I reached the goal of EVEN - $28,000., was this:

and this pic was taken when a different pit boss, female one who said, "I'm proud of you. You won back all your money and you played relaxed." was present - one who doesn't care about pictures taken.

All markers paid:

I hadn't won a nickel (well, I did win $500. but all of that was tipped out to the dealers by way of side bets for them alongside mine out of appreciation as I kept winning my markers back), but I was now HUNGRY. I had barely eaten breakfast and was getting more and more tired as the hours wore on - I had played 7 and a half hours straight, and been up since 5am. It's amazing how hungry one gets after a winning session (and how one may barely masticate a steak after losing due to LACK of appetite).

The line at the buffet was long, but my Tower Suite star key (given to RFB (room food beverage comp'ed) guests, got me to the head of the line.

At the buffet, I ate.

and ate